Meta ends support for the original Quest headset after less than 4 years

The original Oculus Quest will stop receiving new feature updates and lose access to the company’s existing social VR features, according to an email. I sent to many Search users this week.

Although Quest headset owners will still be able to use the device and all available apps, they will no longer be able to “create or join a party,” according to the email. The company wrote that access to Meta Horizon Home features will also be cut off on March 5. And while the Meta will no longer “offer new features” to Quest 1 users, the company says it will continue to provide “critical bug fixes and security patches through 2024.”

The announcement comes less than four years later The initial launch of Quest As the Meta’s first wireless headset (then Oculus) with six degrees of freedom for head and hand tracking. It was the initial version of the Quest, which launched at $400 After $300 Quest 2 in late 2020.

Quest 2 It is said to have sold tens of millions of units In spite of Price increased by $100 last year. This relative success in sales means that many VR developers are increasingly targeting their games at the Quest 2’s Qualcomm Snapdragon XR2 chipset and not the weaker Snapdragon 835 from the original Quest. The Meta announcement will not affect Quest 2 support at this point, nor will it affect Quest 2 support at this point Recently Released $1,500 Quest Pro.

Quest’s original sunset announcement comes less than a month after John Carmack, former chief technology officer at Meta He announced his departure from the company, which he said “works at half the potency which makes me happy”. Carmack was A major supporter of the original mission Within the Meta and a boost to its untethered predecessor, the oculus goWho is he Unlocked via post-downtime update in 2021.

in Keynote speech in OctoberCarmack warned that developers should not build high-end apps for the Quest Pro before “breaking” them for the less powerful Quest 2. “The low-level system will be where all of your real customers are.”