Following confirmation of the cancellation of its latest ConceptD OJO VR headset, Acer says it’s still in the XR game.

Earlier this week Acer confirmed that it decided to cancel its ConceptD OJO headset; it had been 10 months since the headset was announced before the company confirmed it had been canned.

Acer’s ConceptD OJO headset | Image courtesy Acer

The company didn’t offer any real details on the reasoning behind the decision, though we speculated that Acer may be shifting priorities away from VR. When we reached out to clarify, the company told us that it still has skin in the game.

“Acer continues to explore opportunities and invest resources in XR-related technologies,” a spokesperson told Road to VR.

It’s a seemingly intentionally vague statement; our read is that the company doesn’t have concrete plans right now but isn’t dropping VR either.

When it comes to Windows VR headsets (like Acer’s), Microsoft is the linchpin as it creates and controls key hardware and software for the WMR platform. However, the company has shown little interest in the VR end of the WMR platform in the last year or two (instead focusing heavily on its first-party HoloLens), leaving headset partners like Acer in the lurch. Without seeing much enthusiasm from the key stakeholder in WMR, it’s understandable that it would be difficult for Acer to make future commitments.

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The Acer spokesperson also told us that the company, “continues to support the sales and service of the Acer OJO 500,” its enterprise-focused headset which launched in late 2019, a year after initially expected.

Acer’s OJO 500 headset | Image courtesy Acer

Though we asked about it specifically, the spokesperson avoided mentioning the first-generation Acer WMR headset (launched in 2017), which suggests the headset has been discontinued. As we spotted back in mid-2019, many of the original Windows VR headsets, including Acer’s, had vanished from the Microsoft store after apparently being discontinued.

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Ben Lang
Ben is the world's most senior professional analyst solely dedicated to the XR industry, having founded Road to VR in 2011—a year before the Oculus Kickstarter sparked a resurgence that led to the modern XR landscape. He has authored more than 3,000 articles chronicling the evolution of the XR industry over more than a decade. With that unique perspective, Ben has been consistently recognized as one of the most influential voices in XR, giving keynotes and joining panel and podcast discussions at key industry events. He is a self-described "journalist and analyst, not evangelist."
  • Immersive Computing

    The mystery of WMR….

  • Ad

    Valve should step in and make a new hardware template for them. Help manufacturers fill in the low to mid range of the market.

    • mfx

      That’s called Oculus Rift-S

      • Ad

        A template that they can adapt into many headsets. And to help end this monopoly by facebook that is good for no one.

      • NooYawker

        Something that doesn’t box you into Facebooks garbage.

    • mirak

      You forget that there was supposed to be steamvr headsets, by LG and other companies but they disappeared.

      That’s why valve did the index, because HTC and other companies were not able to fill the gap, against Oculus.
      Valve had to protect their store by themselves now.

      • Ad

        The index was to push things forward, not fill the gap. But either way someone needs to revive the WMR platform idea in some form.

  • sebrk

    I wonder why companies go with WMR platform. Outside of the Xbox Microsoft has pretty much failed in hardware across the board. I wouldn’t use it if I got it for free. Bound to die like the rest of MS hardware.

    • care package

      MS doesn’t make headsets, and those who use WMR usually say it’s not bad.

      • sebrk

        Yes technically you are right. However they make the platform which in turn has constraints. Point being that MS has a track record of not continuing investing in stuff that doesn’t make the cut right away. And that is why you should shy it. Thats a part of the game, HTC pretty much fucked their position up by being HTC. I doubt they will ever make a comback worth mentioning now that other more capable players are in the game.

        • care package

          You said hardware, not software. I’ve shied from VR period and went back to AAA gaming anyway.

          • sebrk

            And then claified about the constraints. Good for you.

          • care package

            I’d love to play AAA games in VR. Just really hasn’t happened that way. The VR games pale in comparison. Got tired of short burst gaming built around motion controls. I couldn’t even finish Robo Recall or ARktika, in fact I’ve got a lot of unfinished VR games. There was a time where I said to myself I could never play a flat panel game again too lmao. How things change.

          • mirak

            Production might be AAA but playing seated just moving fingers on a flat screen is not AAA gaming anymore.
            It’s AAAD
            Alyx might be the closest to AAAA

          • care package

            Oh I see, so just VR alone adds to AAs to the equation lmao. Good one. Did you make that one up all by yourself?

        • mirak

          But HTC as the most advanced headset though which as Eye tracking and wireless.
          But you are right they manage to fuck that up because nobody pays attention to that.

          • sebrk

            Yeah well they have rudimentary support for this. But horrible general support as a company. And the Vive feels low quality imho including ergonomics. Simply put they did what was expected: first to market instead of quality engineering. Far from the best today, Index blows it out of the water. Even the Rift S is a better deal considering support and a price.

          • Immersive Computing

            Have owned Vives and used many Vives and Vive Pro I can’t agree about the quality, Vive headset is pretty tough (I had someone run into a wall so hard they bounced back). Also very easy to mod to improve ergonomics, it was designed to be hacked.

            They get horribly abused in VR arcades and apart from trackpad issue on controllers are robust. This was today at Namco London, still going strong…

            https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/55f559e51864bafd7f25510aad5a50751374342e9b1bffa50ed96769144922d8.jpg

          • sebrk

            Quality is more than build strength. I for one find it not to sit great on the head. It’s too heavy and jerking your head fast makes the whole thing wobble. Compare this to the Rift that is feather light in comparison (as an example). I also always cut my nose on the Vive because of the design.

            I’ve owned all Oculus headsets ever. Now run an Index and at work we have been using Vive exclusively. But each to their own. I for one would absolutely never pay the price for Vive considering the above.

          • Immersive Computing

            I’ve owned Vives, Rift CV1’s, Lenovo Explorer WMR and Index. Really liked CV1.

            Index took a lot of work to make comfortable for me – it comes with a narrow face gasket and no wide option so had to 3D print and build my own, not great for $1000 system.

            Had to 3D print palm boosters as Index controllers are made for small hands and my medium hands didn’t fit.

            Collaborated on project to provide depth adjustment for BMR ear speakers as they have none out the box.

            If you want to talk build quality Index has been a mixture of disappointment and frustration since launch, multiple RMA’s for controllers, headset, ear speakers, tethers. Had about 3 months of total use since launch due to waiting on parts.

          • sebrk

            Yes Index has had a lot of issues. I had to RMA the lighthouses. They made an awful sound. The headset is solid for me though. Extremely comfortable. I still think it’s way better value than Vive.

          • Immersive Computing

            You are right about the index value being good but Vive was £800 in 2016 which was great value back then.

            Really like the display panels and lenses (excluding glare!), Controllers have potential but need toughening and wider software support. Ear speakers have great soundscape but lack bass and don’t isolate me from background noise unless very loud.

          • Immersive Computing

            Used Vive Pro Eye with wireless recently, HTC have the business side I’m always finding Vive Pro used at events and demos

            https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/930f7b5c47f94af9e896f4a14a707ccb01eeec68d2d63bdf01644a1989fff63e.jpg

          • Moe Curley

            https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/a08ab1787133c6405808e5a9afd7e4f9fad76305e8ed8adb765e0536c4781b44.jpg I like that picture. Here is what it would look like if you didn’t put the headset on crooked. /s

          • Immersive Computing

            Thanks. It was a public event I attended to understand more about the Holocaust.

            The headset was placed on my head by the staff a bit twisted as the wireless adapter was skewed to one side. Thankfully I managed to stop after the photo and straighten it out!

          • Moe Curley

            After I threw that together quick and dirty I realized that I used the smaller version hosted here. If you’d like I can do a cleaner version using the higher res version if you’d like to reuse it elsewhere (you can see I didn’t clean up the lines going behind the earphones and got a few squiggly lines goin on) Let me know!

          • Immersive Computing

            Thanks for your kind offer but it’s okay as it is (onboarding is a pet peeve of mine!) It’s amazing how many headsets are badly fitted at events, often being asked to not adjust yourself, but just the staff allowed. I always take Zeiss optical lens wipes as there are also too many dirty headsets out there!

          • Moe Curley

            Yeah, an experienced user is the only one that can correctly fit a headset.

          • Immersive Computing

            It’s scary how many events I’ve attended where there is no time taken to fit properly not even strap adjustment or IPD. I’ve been to several where straps had been secured using cable ties to stop people adjusting!

    • Ad

      They were worried about going it alone. Someone has to make the software integration and all that.

    • NooYawker

      There’s a new CEO so I think they won’t be the same unimaginative stagnant company it was under Ballmer.

    • Jeremy Kins

      Says someone that hasn’t actually used a WMR headset. It’s a great platform, still being updated, has more than good enough tracking for most experiences, integrates seamlessly with SteamVR, has terrific optics, and can be had for 200-250 bucks. It’s the best value out there. Has been and continued to be.

  • Rudl Za Vedno

    PC VR is on life support right now. No new HMDs on horizon in 2020 besides Pimax.
    Palmer Lucky where art you? FB&MS don’t give a shit about PC VR anymore. https://media2.giphy.com/media/dZ2q2h1e39AggRsqwe/giphy.gif

    • Lulu Vi Britannia

      It is perfectly normal that hardware wouldn’t be released every year. Seriously, way too many people think smartphones are the normal behavior of every technology. They’re not. Smartphones can afford releasing new models every year because they’re already selling billions and everyone knows what they are.
      As long as there’s no technological breakthrough (innovative techs and/or bigger horse power), there’s no need for new hardware.
      Look, we don’t see new consoles every year, right? It should be the same for VR. They already released way too many headsets, the newcomers are completely lost when they must make a choice!

      All that to say, PC VR is not on life support at all ^^. Not on the hardware side anyway. People must learn to wait, because only Time makes things move on.

      • Rudl Za Vedno

        We haven’t seen any serious resolution and FOV boost since 2017 (Pimax HMDs and HP Reverb being honorable exceptions). Carmack & Palmer Lucky were promising we’d be seeing 140 FOV + eye tracking and foveated rendering in Rift 2 by now. They’re both gone now and what we got is a shitty FB-Lenovo 1.5 HMD instead. You can name that progress, I chose to call it life support.

        • Immersive Computing

          Tried Index yet? The headset is very different to anything else in terms of sheer presence.

          • Rudl Za Vedno

            I have and was not impressed. Elite dangerous is my main daily driver and I still prefer my good old O+ over Index because of true blacks and less glare. With that being said, I was impressed by friend’s Reverb, but I just don’t have the horsepower for it.

          • Ad

            “I just don’t have the horsepower for it.”

            This is why resolutions and FOV aren’t being pushed harder.

          • Rudl Za Vedno

            You can push panel resolution way up, if you incorporate Tobi’s eye tracking with foveated rendering into the HMD/software or you can go with double lenses like Varjo did. Tech is here, but willingness to produce such PC VR hmd has disappeared over the years. Pimax is trying, but they are small company with very limited R&D resources. Someone like Samsung could do it easily, if it chose to do so (they have even patented it), but I guess PC VR market is not their primary target.

          • Ad

            Maybe, but NVIDIA has to basically make fundamental software and it has to be really good. Likely Tobi eye tracking has to much latency too. This isn’t a simple problem and we’re not even sure how much we can foveate. VRSS doesn’t even work, and Varjo is a fixed system too and only works with its own software.

          • mirak

            This is why we need new headsets with eye tracking.

          • Ad

            Okay but eye tracking isn’t magic.

          • Immersive Computing

            That makes sense for ED. I tried Odyssey Plus last week and the OLED displays were bright with high contrast and deep black. It’s true glare is a problem on Index, and perhaps the lenses Achilles heel.

            However in terms of sheer presence I find the 120/144Hz modes and ultra low persistence combined with increased vertical FOV is very impressive, using 8086K @ 5.2Ghz with 2080Ti

          • Moe Curley

            I was gonna say the same thing

        • Sounds more like you’re saying Oculus is on life support, but the Quest has sold out already.

          You also forgot Index’s FOV boost there.

          Seen many trolls here come and go and you are no different. All you guys do is embarrass yourselves :D

          You also talk w/ the expectation that innovation is suppose to happen really fast :D

          Now excuse me while I continue to watch movies/tv shows in my virtual IMAX movie theater w/ this crisp high res HMD of mine.

          Also, I actually enjoy all the funny troll attempts here cause they always fall flat on their faces :D

          SAD!

          • Rudl Za Vedno

            1. Quest is primarily standalone HMD not PC VR.
            2. Index’ 120 degree DIAGONAL FOV if you glue your eyes to the lenses is hardly an achievement. Even cheap Pimax Artisan manages to squeeze 170 diagonal FOV by now

            I have tried what 220H/120V FOV looks like at expo in Berlin back in 2018. Needless to say it was the most immersive thing I ever tried and was hoping that retail PCVR would be moving into that direction by now. But besides Pimax, I don’t see any company on horizon that is willing to invest in producing high end retail HMD with such specs.

          • Their current headsets have distortion/warping issues and feel so cheap and are pricey so it’ll be a while before its gotten right and other follow.

          • Moe Curley

            Back under the bridge with you.

          • Jeremy Kins

            Look, at some point there’s no reason to release those kinds of systems until the hardware needed to run it is affordable enough and in the mainstream enough to where profitability would occur. We could push there now, but the company would go broke trying to sell them. Quest, with Link, is now a hybrid system in the beta stage, and the Quest is proving that VR accessibility, lack of friction overall, and quality software is what matters more at this point. It’s constantly sold out and will continue to be. Sometimes pushing hardware specs isn’t all there is to it. We’ll get there, but if things aren’t affordable and enough people aren’t willing to try it, it won’t matter. That’s when it will be on life support. VR owes a big part of its continued future to Oculus and Quest, whether you like Facebook or not.

        • Lulu Vi Britannia

          Dear God, what are we gonna do, we haven’t had a serious update since 2017, it’s been a whole 2 years! I think you totally missed my point, buddy…
          Again, technology needs time to evolve. I agree most “1.5 gen HMDs” aren’t great updates. My point was that it is perfectly normal.

          • Rudl Za Vedno

            2-3 years is A LOT of time PC tech industry. That’s the time frame we get 2 new generations of CPUs, a new generation of GPUs, new display models out,… PC VR is far from this. HMDs use cheap Farnell lenses since 2016, no desire to widen FOV considerably (with exception of Pimax again), no tech/software workarounds to achieve 4K+ resolutions … That’s why I’m saying PC VR is on life support. I don’t know why people get so offended by saying this, but that are the facts.

        • Moe Curley

          Let me paraphrase that for you:

          “it hasn’t happened yet so it’s not gonna”.

          Famous wrong words preceding every major advancement in technology.

      • Ad

        PC VR is just fine, but you would think one WMR headset would come out every 6 months because of the number of partners. WMR clearly is on the way out when all the headsets are on sale and no sight of anything new.

      • mirak

        We still need wireless and eye tracking.
        No new headsets means no improvement on that.
        Or at least no competition that would make it more affordable because the Vive Pro Eye has that.

    • WHy does there need to be new HMDs each year? o.O

      There aren’t new consoles every year so I guess consoles are dying too :D

      I’d go as far as to say they’ve been dying since the late 90s by your logic.

      Did you also say PCs were dying in the mid 2000s? :D

      I’d love to know how you trolls think. This attempt at trolling is quite weak. :3

      Also Lucky seems to have left the VR gaming industry.

      Also, why would you say FB doesn’t care about PC VR anymore? Arent they coming up w/ a new FB App?

      • sfmike

        Palmer Lucky is busy spending all the money his buddy Trump gifted him with the tax cuts for the rich. Why would manufacturers waste time developing for WMR with Microsoft’s history of not supporting WMR in a logical way with frequent updates. They have written off WMR as a fail in the corporate boardroom so that’s the end of that. Look no further than their non-support of VR with the XBOX, that’s says it all as to their intentions. Possible future profits are never considered by American corporations as quarterly profits are king. Miss a projected goal and you are looking for a new job.

      • mirak

        There are new screens and controllers every year.
        VR headsets are just peripherals, you can’t compare to a console that is a system.

        • They act more or less like consoles w/ their own games…

    • Moe Curley

      PCVR is the only system that can support very High Resolutions.
      PCVR is the only system that can support Ultra High refresh Rates.
      PCVR is the only system that can support Wide FOV’s.
      PCVR is the only system that can support HDR.
      PCVR is the only system that can support Ray Tracing.
      PCVR is the only system that can support Foviated Rendering.
      Other than that your opinion is very well informed.

    • dk

      what life support …sales r constantly going up

    • Jeremy Kins

      This is just wrong. There might not be a new headset, but what we have is good for now and things are being developed. But besides that, Walking Dead Saints and Sinners hit the top Steam charts and there’s now 1.3 million or more systems in the Steam ecosystem. And that’s just there. Software sales coupled with Steam users, Oculus users (rift and quest), means VR is just taking off, not dying.

  • Basically they have no idea what to do

  • Michael Hill

    Isn’t Acer the one sitting on Star VR? Why don’t they just release it?