Moreover, the entire Meta Quest software range endorses the Meta Horizon brand, including the application store. A logical step to mark the transition towards a “real” metaverse where different hardware platforms can interact without friction. “Horizon social tools – currently implemented in Meta Quest devices – will apply to this new ecosystem“, explains Zuckerberg's firm in a official press release. “It allows you to preserve your identity, your avatar and your groups of friends across your different virtual spaces, and allows developers to integrate deep social features into their applications. Since these features are designed to interface different platforms, you will be able to spend time in virtual worlds integrating mixed reality, mobile devices and desktop PCs.“
Advertisement
Ready, player 1?
In addition to the traditional consumerist-capitalist chatter aimed at investors, Meta also details the first projects to come from third-party manufacturers. ASUS would work on “an all-new VR gaming headset” high-performance through its Republic of Gamers brand while Lenovo would take care of a whole range of mixed reality devices (either virtual and/or augmented reality) for leisure as well as for work. These third-party manufacturers will be able to benefit from Snapdragon processors specially optimized for VR by Qualcomm in partnership with Meta. There is no question, therefore, of maintaining a pseudo-monopoly where Meta holds his own against the partners by keeping his magician's secrets.
But perhaps what interests us most is the upcoming collaboration between Meta and Xbox. The two giants already came together last year with the arrival of Xbox Cloud Gaming on the Meta Quest 3 headset. There is now talk of a limited edition Meta Quest headset inspired by Phil Spencer's brand. If the press release is not extremely clear on this subject, it seems logical that it is only a cosmetic variation of an already existing product in the colors of Xbox. To have.
To power this new shared ecosystem, Meta is counting on the support of developers and vice versa: the company is opening early access (by invitation) to the Spatial App Framework, infrastructure designed to facilitate the development or conversion of mixed reality applications. The former Facebook openly hopes that software developers will play the game by adapting their products to VR interaction. And if Xbox is already dipping its toes in the pond, Zuckerberg notes that you can also install the application Steam Link to play your PC games remotely (like a PlayStation Portal).