Meta plans to cease supporting its authentic Quest digital actuality headset after 2024, the corporate has revealed.
The corporate will proceed offering new options for the standalone Quest 1 headset by way of 2024, however some options will ultimately go away, the corporate mentioned in an e mail despatched to Quest homeowners. Nonetheless, the corporate mentioned it’s going to proceed offering “essential bug fixes and safety patches till 2024.”
The e-mail, display screen pictures of which have been posted to Reddit, point out that Quest 1 customers will nonetheless have the ability to use their headset and accessible apps, however they may lose the power to hitch or create a celebration. Quest 1 customers will even lose entry to the Meta Horizon Residence social options on March 5, which means customers will not have the ability to go to different customers’ Properties or invite them to go to theirs.
When the unique Quest was launched in Could 2019, it was extensively thought to be the perfect VR gadget of the yr, offering a method for friends to connect, see theater experiments and feel briefly like you’ve escaped. However the growing older headset has taken a backseat to the Quest 2, an improved, inexpensive sequel, that was launched in October 2020.
And whereas the Quest 2 continues to be the perfect self-contained VR headset proper now, and probably the most reasonably priced for its options, VR customers are eagerly awaiting the Quest 3, a mainstream, lower-cost follow-up to the 2-year-old Quest 2 that Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg mentioned in October was anticipated to debut someday this yr.
Meta did not instantly reply to a request for remark.