January 2021 has passed us by and along with it I am sure countless hours has been spent inside your Quest or Quest 2 in this new year already.
There hasn’t been that much major news for the Quest in January. Facebook had their earnings call where they announced that the Quest 2 was on track to be the first mainstream virtual reality headset, with a 156% increase in the company’s non-advertising revenue.
Zuckerberg also confirmed that the Quest 2’s successor is already in development. Claiming that “the new hardware will fit the same platform, so the content that works on Quest 2 should be forward-compatible, so that [they’re] going to build one larger install base around the VR headsets that [they] have.” It remains to be known if we will see this new headset in 2021 or in another year’s time. Seeing as they are aiming at software to be compatible across all headsets we could be seeing an iPhone-like release window, in that we might expect updates every year. We will see…
In current news, the total Quest game reviews exceeded Oculus PC reviews in less than two years, which just shows you the power of Quest and its install base, and that developers should take note of and consider working on the platform.
PCVR port of The Walking Dead Saints & Sinners on the Quest got its ‘The Trial’ game mode pushed back into February 4th. The trial mode lets players take on waves of zombies where points are based on your zombie-killing kills. The game also surpassed $29M in revenue and the Quest version sold 10x more on Quest, compared to the Oculus PC version of the game.
A surprise to me in January was that Beat Saber released an update with 90Hz refresh rate. A feature I thought was released at the tail end of 2020. Alongside this update the game added ‘Group Lunch’ to the game from the Quest Party menus.
Facebook also announced in January that the Oculus Quest 2 will be getting multi-user accounts and app sharing in February. This feature will let you add up to 3 secondary accounts to a single device, whilst ‘App Sharing’ will give primary accounts the ability to share their library of apps with other profiles. Separate game progress and achievements will be maintained across games.
Ever gamer’s favourite Doom 3 has been ported to the Oculus Quest thanks to an unofficial models Team Beef. You can now play what looks to be a faithful port from Doom 3 in VR if you have SideQuest and a $5 copy of the game from Steam – Lock and load!
VR Cover started to release even more accessories and colours for their existing line-up of products. Over on our YouTube channel I checked out their Halo Controller Protectors and Grips as well as their Orange and Mint Silicone Covers.
It’s hard to think Half-Life Alyx kicked off 2020, yet PCVR continues to shine with the release of Star Wars Squadrons last month, and this month saw Medal of Honor release, and also Microsoft Flight Simulator received a FREE VR update for its cutting-edge flight sim too.
All in all, though, December felt a little shy of big news for the Quest. Oculus really took its foot off the gas after the launch of its new Quest 2. Let’s hope next month and beyond we will see the excitement return and we hear new and greater things for the VR platform and for the Quest as a whole.
A little mention of our YouTube Channel. We managed to smash 1100 subscribers in January. I am super happy to hit that milestone relatively quickly and in such a niche area on YouTube. I continue to appreciate all the great questions and comments that you have sent in on the Channel. In 2021 I hope to continue to bring fresh new accessories and gameplay content to the channel. If you’ve not yet subscribed, please do, as it will really help the Channel grow stronger and give me the opportunity to bring you more unique VR content.
Quest Game Releases in January
January saw a few token releases on the Quest this month. With January also being the month of everyone getting into the mindset of fitness, it was no surprise that developers and Oculus released and promoted games specifically designed to increase your fitness regime.
Games such as Holofit and Reakt also joined the Quest library of fitness titles to choose from. But from my experience a few rounds of Beat Saber, Pistol Whip and FitXR is enough to reduce the flab that you managed to gather of the Christmas holidays.
Top 20 Top-Selling
So let’s look at this week’s top 20 chart positions on the Oculus Quest Store.
- Beat Saber (1)
- GORN (New Entry)
- POPULATION: ONE (4)
- Onward (5)
- SUPERHOT VR (2)
- Vader Immortal: Episode I (8)
- The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners (6)
- Virtual Desktop (9)
- Arizona Sunshine (18)
- Job Simulator (3)
- The Trill of the Fight (13)
- Eleven Table Tennis (Re-Entry)
- Richie’s Plank Experience (11)
- Star Wars: Tales from the Galaxy’s Edge (7)
- I Expect You To Die (Re-Entry)
- Vader Immortal: Episode II (Re-Entry)
- Creed: Rise to Glory (15)
- Vader Immortal: Episode III (Re-Entry)
- Five Nights at Freddy’s: Help Wanted (12)
- Walkabout Mini Golf (16)
The number in the (bracket) is the game’s position in the previous month.
Tune in at the end of next month as we look at the movers and shakers of the Oculus Store Top-Selling.
