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An Xbox VR headset is on the way, but it’s a “limited edition” Meta Quest
An Xbox-inspired VR headset is coming soon.
www.theverge.com
Microsoft is teaming up with Meta to create a limited edition Meta Quest VR headset that’s “inspired by Xbox.” While both Microsoft and Meta aren’t sharing full details on this VR headset, it sounds like it’s simply going to be a skinned Meta Quest 3 (or future unannounced version) that comes bundled with an Xbox controller.
“We’re working together again [with Microsoft] to create a limited-edition Meta Quest, inspired by Xbox,” says Meta in an announcement today. It’s part of Meta opening up its operating system that powers its Quest VR headsets to third-party hardware makers. Asus and Lenovo are creating dedicated headsets that run the Meta Horizon OS, but the partnership with Microsoft sounds like it’s simply a limited-edition headset — much like how Microsoft creates limited-edition Xbox consoles.
In an Instagram post, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg says the version of the headset that is being teased today “comes out of the box with Xbox controllers and Game Pass, so you can immediately just start playing on a big screen anywhere you go.”
Microsoft has a mixed history with VR headsets on the Xbox side, which has led to the company partnering with Meta more closely recently. A document leak in 2012 detailing Xbox One plans showed that Microsoft had considered Kinect Glasses, codenamed Project Fortaleza. Those never came to life with the launch of the Xbox One console, but Microsoft then created a more powerful Xbox One X version that was supposed to be VR-capable.
“We’ve architected it such that something will be able to plug right in and work,” said Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer in 2016 about VR support for Project Scorpio, the codename for Xbox One X. The Xbox One X never had VR headset support despite the company shipping its Xbox One controllers with the Oculus Rift.
After the demise of Microsoft’s failed Windows Mixed Reality efforts, the company eventually pivoted toward partnering with Meta more closely. Quest owners can now use Word, Excel, and PowerPoint in VR, and Microsoft and Meta also partnered to bring Xbox Cloud Gaming to Quest VR headsets last year.
