Microsoft is going to dump Windows Mixed Reality

[Navy Chief]

I am glad I bought a Quest 3 headset. My Samsung Odyssey will be useless soon....


https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Hi2k1BwlS3g

[Whitehawk]

Le disappoint.. I'll hold hope for some clever person(s) to code up a solution since there's gonna be a lot of pissed WMR users out there..

[Victory103]

Yes as I sit here with my Reverb G2 still figuring out the best way to upgrade my cpu to run it properly. VR completely changed my sim experience the 1st time using it in DCS.

[Whitehawk]

Update via my gaming clan, Windows will continue support until 1st November 2026 then will be removed in a Windows update - so three more years then if no alternatives can just turn off updates and continue as usual I guess!

[jmig]

Update via my gaming clan, Windows will continue support until 1st November 2026 then will be removed in a Windows update - so three more years then if no alternatives can just turn off updates and continue as usual I guess!

Three years in gaming is a lifetime. I figure most will have moved on to newer hardware/software by then.

[K5083]

I wouldn't say 3 years in gaming is a lifetime, but it is roughly the life cycle of a device like the Reverb G2 or any particular VR unit. If it's true that we have that long to enjoy our rigs, I won't be too disappointed. I already feel like I'm being pressured by upgrade my rig after 1 year, and in a couple more years, there will be some super new headsets out there. I think when you buy a VR set now, you figure on spreading your costs over 3-4 years at most. WMR certainly isn't such a great app that I will miss it when it goes; I'll be happy to try something better.

This is yet another sign, though, that the big players have realized that nobody wants VR for general or business use, and it's likely to remain a niche thing with limited hardware options for the foreseeable future.

August

[keithb77]

*yet another sign, though, that the big players have realized that nobody wants VR for general or business use, and it's likely to remain a niche thing with limited hardware options for the foreseeable future.

Or that Metaquest have got the market sown up with the q3 and pro?

[K5083]

Or that Metaquest have got the market sown up with the q3 and pro?

I doubt it. Those sets, along with all others on the market, have significant drawbacks and it is easy to see feasible improvements by drawing features from other units, not to mention further innovation and better pricing. It's an immature tech, and although we know who some of the losers are (hi, HP), the winners have not yet been chosen.

August

[keithb77]

Not talking about the best...just the most sales...Meta and legacy Oculus headsets account for over 40% of headsets in the Navigraph survey and VR headset sales were tanking this year until the Quest 3 release in October. And by December it was already the 4th most owned in the Navigraph survey.
G2 was the most used but with no more being made that will drop.

The risk is that Meta won't be able to sustain their investment (billions...) and VR might die completely.
Maybe we should all buy a backup Q3 :v)

[K5083]

The Navigraph survey tells us very little about the VR market. It probably isn't even a very good survey of the flight sim niche.

From an offering perspective, things are much better now than a year ago. Some nice new high- and mid-range gear has come out. Entry level (~$300) is still a problem. When the G2 was at that price last year, it was the first entry level unit that wasn't junk. We need a replacement at that price point that doesn't turn people off, because not many new users are going to drop $650+ just on a try-out. I wouldn't have bought the Q3 at that price as a newbie (too much to risk) and also wouldn't buy it at that price now (not enough upgrade over G2). If an attractive path is provided for new users, I still think VR eventually will take over most gaming, which is certainly a big enough market. I just wouldn't bet on general social-world or business use.

August

[tiger1962]

Earlier this year we had a short family holiday at a resort which had an amusements arcade next to the indoor swimming pool. Alongside the usual slot machines and racing video games there was a pair of two-seater VR 'experience' games, I think they were rollercoaster rides or something similar. We never saw anyone on them, and didn't use them ourselves.

[K5083]

You guys have probably seen the YT videos about the forthcoming Pimax Crystal Light. It looks like the feature set is well optimized for flight sim use for $700.

It looks like the market has finally given us another alternative, besides the Quest 3, for replacing/upgrading our Reverb G2s when our cables finally die and/or WMR goes away.

I'm going to try to milk another year out of my G2, maybe catch the Pimax at $100 off on sale, before I switch over. I won't pre-order, I believe in the maxim "never buy version 1.0 of anything."

Either way, it's a relief to know I won't be forced back to TrackIR!

August