Facebook announced that, at the end of this year, it will officially retire Oculus Go, its 3DOF standalone headset. In early 2021, the company will also be making way for more apps on Quest with a new content distribution platform that will be separate from the Oculus Store.

The company won’t be releasing any new first-party features for Go, effective immediately, the company says in a blog post. Facebook will also be tuning down the headset’s third-party content pipeline later in the year, as the company will no longer accept any new Go apps or app updates after December 4th. No new Go apps will be permitted onto the Oculus Store after December 18th, putting a final lid on the growth of the Go’s content library.

The headset’s system software will however still receive bug fixes and security patches through 2022.

Oculus Go & Gear VR, Photo by Road to VR

Facebook says the move to retire Go is about pushing towards a “future of VR with 6DOF platforms like Oculus Quest.” This presumably also means that Go will be the company’s last 3DOF headset offering.

“As the technology has advanced rapidly since we launched Go, you’ve helped us prove out the value of positional tracking with the incredible experiences you’ve built for 6DOF VR, and we’re ready to double down on that,” the company says in a developer blog post.

Released in May 2018, Oculus Go was hailed as a VR headset priced for the masses. Although hobbled by its rotation-only headtracking and single non-positionally tracked controller, Go was championed for its low price-point of $200 and ability to serve up casual games and traditional streaming content, such as Netflix, Hulu, and YouTube.

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Opening the Gates for Quest Content

There’s been a greater number of Quest apps to hit the Store recently, however the headset’s library of games is still dwarfed in comparison to both Oculus Go or Oculus Rift.

Facebook has been notably more strict with which apps it allows on Quest since the headset’s launch in mid-2019, as there are both technical hurdles and the apparent need to keep a manicured storefront for new users.

Image courtesy Oculus

Early next year, the company says it will offer a new way to distribute content on Quest, which will allow developers to share their apps to anyone with a Quest.

Details are still thin on the ground, however Facebook appears to be creating an alternative marketplace with a lower technical acceptance threshold than the Oculus Store. Unlike sideloaded apps though, content accepted through this channel will still need to adhere to its Oculus Platform policies and Oculus Content policies.

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“By making it easier for more developers to reach Quest owners in the future, we hope to spark inspiration with those who will build the next wave of engaging experiences for Quest,” the company says.

In practice, this may act as a way to stymie sideload-based content stores such as SideQuest, and bring all developers under the same roof, so to speak. Additionally, the still unnamed content channel could act as an avenue for Early Access content, or simply an updated of the old Oculus Share platform back in the heady developer kit days. The company says it will be sharing more info on the new content channel in the future.

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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.
  • Maven

    I hope there will be Quest 2, but I think this will not happen before 2022. What do you guys think?

    • Adrian Meredith

      I think with the rumours that apple will be launching around then will expidite things. It might make more sense to launch a kind of quest pro as for me quest 2 needs those high tech lenses with the smaller size, higher fov, and eye tracking. In the mean time a more confortable quest with the latest soc would do wonders. The big problem right now is its too expensive to port pcv/psvr games to quest. Its doable but expensive. A quest pro with 2x gpu that qualcomm claims would make ports very doable. They need to get their DLSS working because I think that will be a game changer too.

      • Maven

        I would like to see Quest 2 with 300 grams weight, 140 FOV, 2k x 2k OLED panels, some wireless/cable connection to PC for superpowers :-)

        • kontis

          They won’t push for FOV this wide, they already reduced fov in their latest prototypes because they prioritize weight and form factor. Wide fov also exponentially degrades performance (because of planar projection), which is a problem even on PC.

          So there are 3 main reasons why they won’t improve FOV significantly for a long time:
          1. performance
          2. resolution
          3. form factor

          Optimising for FOV means all those 3 get worse.

          • Andrew Jakobs

            Shame, I’d rather give up some weight for more FOV..

      • Andrew Jakobs

        Don’t expect the Quest 2 to have eyetracking, at the moment the modules for eyetracking are about half the costs of a current Quest, or at least one third. And that’s just too expensive if they want to put the Quest 2 in the same price range as the current quest (probably somewhere between the Quest and Rift S).

    • mfx

      So the world should be missing a quest 2 update because the selfish Maven doesn’t want to feel HIS quest hardware outdated too early ?

      • Caven

        I think you misread Maven’s post. Making a prediction isn’t the same as wanting it to come true.

        • Craven Raven

          I approve this comment.

          • mfx

            Maven, Caven and now Craven Raven… dude stop using multiple accounts to reply to yourself, that’s lame.

    • kontis

      There were reports that FB was ready to release new Quest this year, but COVID made them move the launch date.

    • Andrew Jakobs

      I think there will be a Quest 2 probably around February 2021.. And I wouldn’t be surprised if there won’t be a Rift S successor. There’s no need for an extra headset if they get the Quest 2 correct (so with USB-C/DP connector at least or Wifi6). But I do hope they’ll ditch the fresnel lenses.

  • Go time… great fun but time for retirement, 6DoF accomodates those constant small head movements providing much more comfort even when media viewing

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/224418dfa675b63937fd233d47ea5d5165c82349848601bb7a68c4d38f44436b.jpg

  • Glad they are finally going to have a way for other apps to get on the platform. Should be possible to finally get Mobile VR Station on the cool headset.

  • crim3

    Now that for once I was considering a Facebook headset for my wife because of the low price and good reports on the screens and lenses… but now I see why it hasn’t been available for the lasts two months that I’ve been having trying to buy one.
    A 160€ headset had its place in the market, because I’m not buying a 450€ headset specifically for streaming content. Hell, my current PC-VR headset (Lenovo Explorer) cost me 150€!!

  • impurekind

    Looks like it’s about time for Quest 2 imo.

  • stevepessah

    When this happens, will we still be able to sideload into the Go? Haven’t found a solid answer for this yet.

  • Catherine White

    Hi
    Thanks for the awesome article. Very insightful! In extension, one can also refer “Facebook’s new Oculus Go is visibly a big win” for additional information about Facebook’s new Oculus Go.