The Reintroduction of Xbox in the Virtual Reality Space: Not What You'd Expect

Xbox is relaunching into the small world of VR with a headset specially adapted to its ecosystem. But there probably won't be something for everyone.

To do this, Xbox is renewing a partnership with Meta. It would then be a question of a sort of reskin of a Meta Quest, but only available in a “limited edition”. In any case, the two entities maintain mystery on many points about it.

Xbox has a somewhat complicated history with VR. A model to accompany the One was in the works at the time, according to a document leaked in 2012. However, it was abandoned. The console never had VR support. Xbox controllers were, however, provided with the Oculus Rift. 12 years later, Microsoft's gaming branch is trying again, in partnership with Meta.

“ We're working together again with Microsoft to create a limited edition of the Xbox-inspired Meta Quest “, Mark Zuckerberg’s company recently announced. Even if the two partners did not share more details, it seems that it would only be an “Xbox reskin” of the Meta Quest 3 or another VR headset from the group. This would logically come accompanied by controllers compatible with the ecosystem of the gaming branch of the Redmond firm, as well as a Game Pass subscription code. However, we do not have more details as to the availability date or price of this upcoming collaborative VR headset.

Meta Quest 3 will soon be released for Xbox, but in a limited edition. © Meta

A VR headset in limited edition and potential?

This partnership between Xbox and Meta is not without interest for both groups. On the one hand, Meta's VR headsets natively have the Office suite (Word, Excel, etc.). Xbox Cloud Gaming is also integrated. For Mark Zuckerberg's company, this allows it to sell its operating system to third-party manufacturers. For Xbox, this further extends the influence of its Cloud Gaming solution and Game Pass.

But will the public be there for this limited edition of a Meta Quest in Xbox colors? On the side of its enemy brother Sony, VR is now practically a thing of the past. The Japanese giant has in any case closed its largest studios responsible for developing games exclusive to PSVR 2. The VR video game market therefore currently seems to be having difficulty getting its head above water. This partnership could therefore serve the interests of Microsoft and its software more than its gaming branch as such.