Because Facebook and Oculus backed out of the Game Developer Conference (and it was canceled), they have decided to put their own showcase on. This started today and will be running until the end of day on March 19th. To introduce this week-long events, Oculus is kicking things off with Director of Content Ecosystem Chris Pruett and Facebook Global Director, Games Partnerships Leo Olebe! You can check out the introductory video below.
You can check out the Oculus Blog for updates. VRGear will also be covering the event all week, so make sure to check back at VRGear.com for commentary on the matters being discussed and released each day. For the entire blog post about the highlights of day 1, you can check out the Oculus Blog. Included below, we will show what Oculus had to say about each of the announcements.
Each of these stories will get more attention as the week goes on.
New and Improved Oculus Quest System Experience
The VR platform of the future must enable people to multitask easily, navigate between apps seamlessly, stay connected with others, and quite simply do more. From gaming to media and entertainment, from social experiences to getting work done, VR as the next computing platform will support the full spectrum of uses that people expect from their devices, like phones and laptops, today. As a step toward that future, we’re unveiling a major update to the Oculus Quest system experience that makes VR more flexible, social, and easy to use than ever before. It comes with a completely redesigned universal menu, new immersive overlays, and multi-window support for 2D apps starting with Oculus Browser—and these updates are launching as Experimental Features later this month. Click here for more information, and visit the Oculus Developer Blog to learn how you can make sure your app is compatible.
A Thriving Ecosystem
From mobile phones and consoles to your PC and tabletop, games bring people together and help us form vibrant communities. The same holds true for VR, and our bets in the gaming space continue to pay off. More than 20 titles have passed the $1M revenue mark on Quest alone—a trend that promises to continue as even more people join the VR community. In fact, 90% of people who activated a new Quest over the holidays were new to the Oculus ecosystem. We’re thrilled to keep welcoming new people to VR.
Prototype OpenXR
We’re excited to announce that a prototype version of OpenXR will be available for developers in an update coming later this month. OpenXR is a royalty-free open standard from The Khronos Group created for the development of high-performance VR applications that run on multiple platforms. Click here to learn more.
Add-Ons: Downloadable Content and In-App Purchases
Also launching later this month, developers will see a new option in their Developer Dashboard for downloadable add-on content management, Add-ons. Add-ons combine Downloadable Content (or DLCs) and In-App Purchases (or IAPs) under one management function. The introduction of Add-ons makes the process of creating add-on content easier for developers. It also makes add-on content more searchable and purchasable directly from the application page for consumers. Click here to learn more.
More to Come
The future’s never been brighter for VR gaming, with original franchises that continue to grow, new games being announced, and a host of tools and insights that make building successful titles easier than ever. We’ll have more news to share in the days ahead, so tune in here each day at 10:00 am PT through March 19 for all the latest!
