The Oculus Rift is dead, long live the Oculus Quest. On the day the Facebook-owned VR firm announced the Quest 2, it confirmed the days of making PC-based headsets are over.
During the Facebook Connect (nee Oculus Connect) event today, the firm announced it will be putting the Rift range out to pasture, ending sales of the Oculus Rift S from early next year.
From now on the company says it is fully-focused on the standalone and surprisingly affordable Quest 2 headset, which has already earned a stellar review from Trusted Reviews.
That’s not to say tethered PC-based VR is dead, Oculus says its Link software, which is currently in beta, will ensure the Quest 2 is PC friendly. However, the future is very much untethered, standalone VR.
In a statement, the company said: “We are fully focused on the Quest platform as the best of both worlds for all-in-one and PC gaming, so we will not be making any future Rift or PC-only headsets.”
Related: Oculus Quest 2 review
The new Quest 2 arrives for just $299, which is much cheaper than most observers were expecting. It also offers a decent spec-bump over the existing $399 Rift S headset. The Fast-Switching LCD panel has a resolution of 1832 x 1920 per eye, and a variable refresh rate. That’s compared with the overall 2560 x 1440 on the Rift S, which has a fixed 80Hz refresh rate. Both systems rock the same positional audio system, but the ability to have free reign around the home seals the deal for the vast majority of people.
Discontinuing the Rift marks the end of an era for Oculus, which first wowed us all with the original Rift on Kickstarter all the way back in 2012. However, plans for the Oculus Rift 2 were cancelled back in 2018, with the Rift S arriving in 2019 as a more modest improvement than initially planned.
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.