Last week at The Game Awards, the Xbox Series X was announced. This was the public’s first look at the rectangle of power that Microsoft is planning on releasing next holiday season. This announcement from Phil Spencer came with more questions than answers though, and plenty of them are revolving around virtual reality and the compatibility of the console with the latest trend of gaming.
Spencer didn’t mention virtual reality but did mention the “virtual worlds” that the newest console would let you explore. It is clear that he wasn’t implying virtual reality, but the word ‘virtual’ had us on the edge of our seats for the entirety of his presentation. In our lengthy post about Xbox Series X and the possibility of virtual reality, we spoke about the Rift S being powered by the newest Xbox. This would make sense for both parties. It would give Xbox users another reason to buy the console, and it would incentivize more Xbox users to go out and buy a Rift S. The inside-out tracking would be one of the main selling points. But one of the problems is the Rift S relies completely on the PC. Could the Xbox handle that? Probably, but we want to explore an option where it doesn’t have to power the headset on its own.
Oculus Link
The Oculus Link is a technology that Oculus has developed to allow the Oculus Quest to work as a Rift S when connected to a VR-ready PC. (Oculus Link is also the name of the cord Oculus is releasing) This offloads all of the processing and computing to the PC and turns the Quest to a simple VR display while playing high-end virtual reality games.
Connecting the Rift S to the Xbox Series X would require the Xbox to do all of the work to put out a virtual reality game. If you were to connect an Oculus Quest with the Oculus Link capabilities, it could offload some, or all, of the computing and processing to the headset itself. This would allow the headset and the Xbox to work together, ultimately making the possibility of this idea a reality. Forcing the Xbox to do less work would increase the odds of Microsoft being willing to try something like this.
Microsoft would need to allow the Oculus Store to be inside of their software, something we are confident could happen. Both companies would be inclined to do something along these lines, as it can benefit both companies in the long and short run.
Benefits
Oculus allows the Quest to act as a Rift S when connected to a powerful PC. The only flaw in this plan is that most people bought a Quest to get away from having to buy the high-end and high-powered PCs. Most people with high-quality PCs decided to buy the Rift S, as it is a much more powerful headset and is capable of better games. So when the Oculus Link was announced, many people loved the idea, but very few were (and are) able to take advantage of the power.
If the Link is playable on the Xbox, Oculus could see the Rift S games sell more than ever. Adding another piece of hardware capable of transforming the Quest would bring more sales across the board for Oculus without having to change the software all too much.
As for the Microsoft side, we would like to focus on the Phil Spencer quote from a few weeks ago. For reference, we will put the quote below.
“We’re responding to what our customers are asking for and… nobody’s asking for VR. The vast majority of our customers know if they want a VR experience, there’s places to go get those. We see the volumes of those on PC and other places.”
Whether Spencer is right or wrong in his assumption that nobody is wanting VR from Xbox, he is right about his customers knowing where to get the VR experience. Oculus is the answer for most people, and the Quest is by far their best-seller. It doesn’t seem like it would take too much convincing for Spencer to at least be a home for other VR headsets. He wouldn’t have to develop his own hardware for the headset, wouldn’t have to populate an entire app store, or even create their own storefront inside the console.
This would give many Quest users the ability to load into some of their favorite PC games on the Xbox. This would not only lead people to buy the newest hardware from Microsoft, but it would give it value like never before. Not to mention that the Xbox is likely going to still be cheaper than the high-powered PCs that are VR ready. This would be a simple solution for a problem that has yet to have an answer.
VR Games for Xbox
As we mentioned earlier, it would make sense for Oculus to insist that the Rift games are available on the console. That likely wouldn’t the only option for gaming though, as Xbox is not far behind in VR game-making capabilities. Xbox has accumulated plenty of VR developing talent over the last year, putting themselves in perfect position for releasing a few exclusive games that would capture the audience. Half-Life: Alyx is bribing plenty of people to buy the Valve Index.
If Microsoft was able to get the attention of the VR community with an exclusive game, they’d be able to likely convince a large crowd to buy their newest console. Especially if the game was exclusive to the console and you got to choose the headset you bring with you. This would widen their audience and likely bring many people in their new VR-capable gaming console. This feels like it isn’t a matter of if, but a matter of when for Xbox and Microsoft. For more VR news and gaming community updates, make sure to check back at VRGear.com.
