Yesterday themetabite.com joined Meta Connect 2022, Meta’s (formerly Facebook) annual conference, which brings together developers, creators, and tech enthusiasts from across the Metaverse ecosystem. Needless to say, there was a lot to take in and unpack! Running across five tracks: Build Immersive Experiences; Create Natural Interactions; Design for Everyone; Extend the Metaverse; and Grow Your Business, Meta Connect 2022 included over 30 highly informative sessions.
Founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg kicked off proceedings with the event’s Keynote, which comprised nearly an hour and half worth of announcements. First off, Zuckerberg talked about his excitement around progress being made across the burgeoning Metaverse ecosystem. Alongside Meta’s Chief Technology Officer and Head of Reality Labs Andrew “Boz” Bosworth, Zuckerberg highlighted the demand for high-quality virtual reality (VR) experiences, evidencing this with the following statements: “1 in 3 apps in the Quest Store are making revenues in the millions”, “Thirty-three apps made over $10 million in gross revenue, up from twenty-two in February”, and “The number of apps that have made over $5 million has doubled since last year”.
Zuckerberg, Bosworth and Meta’s Vice President of the Metaverse, Vishal Shah described the shift from gaming to social VR experiences, noting the popularity of social Metaverse apps, like VR Chat, and that the vast majority of people are spending time in multi-player, multi-user apps. This is very much in line with the broader vision for the Metaverse, or Web 3.0, to be a more social experience.
Shah announced a multiyear collaborative partnership with American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate NBCUniversal. Meta and will be bringing NBCUniversal’s “iconic content to life through experiences in the Metaverse”, co-creating experiences around NBCUniversal intellectual property The Office, Universal Monsters, Dreamworks, Blumhouse and Halloween Horror House. Here at themetabite.com we’re particularly excited about the prospect of virtual and/or augmented Universal Monsters mash-up with Halloween Horror Nights, an annual event that occurs at Universal Studios global resorts. We’re imagining a night-time, augmented reality event, with participants being stalked by Dracula, the Mummy, and the Wolf Man!
Meta’s Head of Developer Relations at Oculus VR, Melissa Brown took us through some of the best-selling and upcoming Meta Quest games titles, including The Walking Dead: Saints and Sinners, which has generated over $50 in revenue on Quest alone, and upcoming sequel The Walking Dead: Saints and Sinners – Chapter 2: Retribution, coming on the 2nd of December 2022. Particularly exciign was the announcement of Marvel Iron Man VR, a former PlayStation VR exclusive, which will be heading to Meta Quest headsets on the 3rd of November 2022. Equally exciting was Meta’s collaboration with Microsoft. Zuckerberg joined with Microsoft’s Chairman and CEO Satya Nadella to announce a collaboration that will see Microsoft Teams and Microsoft 365 integrate with Meta’s Quest devices and allow Microsoft Teams to be cross-compatible with Meta’s VR space for business meetings, Horizon Workrooms.
But the big news belongs to the final unveiling of Meta’s Quest Pro headset. Here at themetabite.com we’ve previously reported on Meta’s Project Cambria, the development codename for the Quest Pro headset. Retailing at $1,500 and powered by Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon XR2+ processor, the Meta Quest Pro’s features, outlined by Angela Chang, Meta’s Senior Director of Product Management, VR Devices, include: a sleeker form factor; super thin pancake lenses, allowing a 40% thinner display; a curved cell battery for “perfect balance”, allowing users to wear the headset for longer in comfort; a higher pixel count, with 37% more pixels per inch than the Quest 2, and 75% more contrast; a “seamless transition from physical for virtual” with an open periphery, which can be covered using magnetic light-blocking panels; high-resolution mixed-reality passthrough; and inward-facing sensors, so that virtual avatars are more expressive and reflect facial movements, increasing social presence.
We'll be unboxing the Meta Quest Pro on the 26th of October. Please leave a comment below!
Steve Johnsonsplash