Facebook discontinues the Oculus Go VR headset

June 23, 2020

must read

AR and VR mean business: Everything you need to know

An executive guide to the technology and market drivers behind the hype in AR, VR, and MR.

Facebook this year is ending sales of the Oculus Go, the low-end virtual reality headsets that deliver 3DOF (three degrees of freedom) tracking. It’s abandoning the relatively cheap devices because users have made it clear “that 6DOF feels like the future of VR,” the company said in a blog post Tuesday.

Moving forward, Facebook will no longer ship new features for Oculus Go. After December 4, it will stop accepting new apps or app updates for the headset. The company plans to maintain the system software with bug fixes and security patches through 2022.

Facebook acquired Oculus in 2014 for around $2 billion and launched the Oculus Go in 2018, with the aim of bringing virtual reality to the masses. While VR hasn’t quite taken off the way Facebook anticipated, the company on Tuesday heralded the Oculus Go for breaking ground in the all-in-one category, calling it a “game-changer.”

“Oculus Go opened up VR to many more people, and it helped redefine immersive entertainment,” the blog post said.

Moving forward, Oculus will focus on improving offerings for the 6DOF Quest and Rift headsets, the company said. Additionally, Oculus plans on making it easier for developers to distribute Quest apps. Starting next year, developers will be able to distribute Quest apps outside of the Oculus Store.

Last month, the company said that users have spent more than $100 million on Quest content, with more than 10 titles have generating over $2 million in revenue on Quest.