Oculus Link, the upcoming feature that will let you play Rift games on Quest, is set to launch sometime in November. According to statement made by an Oculus Product Manager, the company is also making Link’s specs available to third parties, meaning you’ll not only have a choice in the matter, but also the confidence that you’re actually buying something designed for the task.

A confirmed Oculus Product Manager, known only by the Reddit handle u/HiFiPotato, had this to say when asked about Link:

“Just to add onto what was stated above, the Oculus Link cable is quite thin and flexible when compared to a standard usb 3 active cable. But length, data integrity, flexibility, ergonomics, and weight were all a factor. We also are releasing the specs of our cable so if a 3rd party wants to build their own and sell it, they are welcome to do so.”

Oculus previously mentioned at Link’s OC6 unveiling earlier this month that most high-quality USB 3 cables should work with Link, so it’s no surprise you won’t be forced to pay the reported $79 for the five meter (16-foot) cable.

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Since Oculus is openly making Link’s specs available to third parties though, it’s much more likely we’ll see cables either designed specifically for the task, or at least sporting some sort of ‘Link compatible’ messaging.

Oculus touts their own as bringing a “best-in-class experience with maximum throughput and comfortable ergonomics.”

We went hands-on with Link on Quest back at OC6, and it proved to be an awesome experience, so much so that it actually felt like a native PC VR experience.

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Scott Hayden
Well before the first modern XR products hit the market, Scott recognized the potential of the technology and set out to understand and document its growth. He has been professionally reporting on the space for nearly a decade as Editor at Road to VR, authoring more than 4,000 articles on the topic. Scott brings that seasoned insight to his reporting from major industry events across the globe.
  • Bravanche

    Can anyone introduce a good cable?

    I tried looking everywhere, but a Gen2 (presumably required?), type-c male-male, that also has to be reasonably long (3m to 5m) for VR, is pretty much non-existent.

    I feel Oculus’s premiun cable may be the only option to buy for the first few months until cmpetition shows up.

    • Pablo C

      Check Aliexpress a month later

  • Aliyea

    …short answer—there isn’t one, and likely won’t be. There is good reason you can’t find such a cable–and the only question is what will break, either when trying to use magically long 3rd party cables or worse, hoping that the cable here works on any other equipment. Getting USB-3 speeds right a 5M is hard and expensive but possible in a single direction.. But also, such a long cable will violate the voltage drop required for standard use. Heaven knows what kind of requirements are given on the ports, but it looks like Oculus is using a ‘common connector’ but doing their own thing and picking which specs they want to comply to…

    • Didn’t they state this was an active cable with an optical fiber for data? That would explain how they are able to make a cable of this length reliable with very minimal sheilding.

  • Immersive Computing

    Very interested to see how durable the new Oculus cable will be, bearing in mind the abuse that PCVR cables take, and how much load the cable will place on the connection port on the Quest.

    PCVR headsets are designed to accommodate the load on the cable connection port with routing that provides strain relief, USB3 never was..a thin cable hanging off the side of the headset, cue damaged headset connector?

  • PJ

    The Link is cool feature, but I’ll just wait for wireless streaming to work flawlessly, before giving up my CV1, that said, with Contractors. Pavlov and Onward coming to the Quest, I’m very tempted to get one…

    Question, how is wireless USB 3.1? I mean is it possible for this to Link wireless, and is it likely to be better, with lower latency than ALVR and Virtual Desktop?

    • Yann de Couëssin

      I tried a TPCast devkit at work and then mostly gave up on wireless streamed VR because of additionnal weight and battery life. 60Ghz modules are pretty energy-consuming and heavy. I prefer (from far) a light and long cable which works fine with all types of contents (big contractors and onward player though).

      But to answer, these real wireless solutions work great. The only problem with 60Ghz is that the wavelengh is pretty sensitive to big objects between Tx and Rx. It means you will experience microshutters if the stand / room gets crowded.

      • Wildtz0r

        You attach the battery to your belt where it’s hardly noticeable unless you jump around like crazy.
        And also buy a spare one. You can pretty much hot-swap batteries and get 10 hours playtime.(start re-charching the first one after the swap.)

        • Yann de Couëssin

          Yeah the battery was attached to my belt. That’s my point, it’s more annoying than a simple cable to me. And for a B2B purpose it’s just an additionnal constraint to handle.

          • Wildtz0r

            Wow. The cable kills most 360 experiences for me. Having to manage your rotations, and generally avoid stepping/tripping on that cable is not even in the same league as having 350g on your waist.

          • lynx

            Pipe the cord behind yourself, put a gaming laptop in a backpack then your good to go. The Rift S could even do this. EDIT: you may need an external battery supply for the Rift S.

  • Rupert Jung

    Waiting for a (60 GHz) Wireless Bridge. After Quest, there is no way in getting back to a wired experience for me. Would love to play Asgard’s Wrath / Stormland, though.

  • Rogue Transfer

    A correction – the company is: Facebook Technologies Ltd. since over a year ago. There is no Oculus registered company any more: https://uploadvr.com/oculus-division-facebook-technologies/

    • Greyl

      Facebook are using their wealth to invest in consumer VR/PCVR better than anyone else right now, so I don’t think anyone cares.

    • GunnyNinja

      “Oculus remains a division of Facebook Technologies. There’s no change or impact on the Oculus brand or business”

  • JesuSaveSouls

    Jesusavesouls !