Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond is Respawn Entertainment’s first VR game and one of the most anticipated upcoming VR games. Despite potential disruptions from the Coronavirus pandemic, the game is still on track for a 2020 release date.

While several anticipated VR games like Lone Echo II and Iron Man VR have unfortunately been delayed in part due to the Coronavirus pandemic, Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond is still expected to launch in 2020, Oculus tells Road to VR.

Medal of Honor was initially expected to launch in 2019, though by the time the game was formally revealed in September 2019, the expected release date was shifted to 2020, well before the Coronavirus began to spread.

As a more specific release date for Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond has not been given, we don’t know for sure if the pandemic has hindered development of the game in some way, but at a minimum we now know that it won’t slip beyond 2020.

Image courtesy Respawn Entertainment, Oculus Studios

Developed by Respawn Entertainment and set in WWII, Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond promises to deliver an action packed story-driven VR shooter. The game is an Oculus exclusive title and is expected to launch on Rift but not Quest.

Respawn is the famed studio behind the Titanfall franchise, Apex Legends, and Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order. The studio’s pedigree is one reason why Medal of Honor VR is highly anticipated, but also because it’s being funded by Oculus Studios and because it will be the continuation of the long-running Medal of Honor franchise.

SEE ALSO
What the Breakout Success of 'Apex Legends' Could Mean for Respawn's Upcoming VR Game

Typically we’d expect to hear updates on a game like Medal of Honor VR around E3, the annual mid-Summer games conference. However, like many key VR events, this year’s E3 has been cancelled due to the Coronavirus pandemic, so it isn’t clear how that will influence Oculus’ marketing calendar. A likely move then is that the company may choose to reveal more about the game during Oculus Connect 7—usually held around the end of the third-quarter—which will be hosted as a digital event for the first time this year. If so, we’d expect a holiday 2020 release date for Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond.

Newsletter graphic

This article may contain affiliate links. If you click an affiliate link and buy a product we may receive a small commission which helps support the publication. More information.


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."
  • Ad

    1. They should delay it if they need to. This needs to be a good game.
    2. I don’t love that this is an oculus title. Those games often get tepid support because all the revenue was front loaded, they use lighting heavy graphical design and run badly because they use ASW as a crutch.

    3. Not being on most headsets isn’t great for a title that is going to have multiplayer and would be well suited to steam and PS5.
    4. The game has a lot of aspects of it that look rough like enemy animation and detail in the graphics, but hopefully that’s just from it being early footage and the game holds up in comparison to Onward, Pavlov, Boneworks gunplay.

    • D-_-RAiL

      This wouldnt exist with out Oculus in the VR space. Just like the two VR titles from Ubisoft that will upset people when they are announced.

      • Ad

        It wouldn’t exist now, it may have taken another year. The number of headsets just doubled, and not because of any Oculus game.

        • Andrew Jakobs

          Except it was Oculus who came to them and asked them to create the VR game, not the other way round.. Don’t count on them having made a VR-only game otherwise..

          • Ad

            That is possible, sure, I was thinking some AAA FPS of this genre. It still will certainly have limitations regardless, both from their limited hardware and from being stuck to their inferior closed platform.

          • Andrew Jakobs

            Oh please stop it, because you hate facebook doesn’t mean their hardware is limited or their closed platform is inferior, far from it.. Please don’t try to react so emotional like a fanboy. (And no the last Oculus I had is the DK2 and I own a HTC Vive Pro).

          • Ad

            Steam is a massive platform filled with features that oculus can’t match.

        • MeowMix

          ‘taken another year’. LOL
          If no Oculus, then there’s essentially no VR. Would have taken another decade.

          • Ad

            Oculus no longer exists, it’s Facebook. Regardless I’d give up one game with limited features to make VR healthier.

        • Blaexe

          Games like this won’t be profitable for years to come without funding. And by the time games like this may turn out profitable, it will still be too much risk for publishers to take.

          • Ad

            We still don’t know how expansive it will be. Vader Immortal was 2 hours with all three included, and wasn’t like echo like 6 hours? I know they said 15 hours but that was in the early stages.

    • wotever99ninynine

      agreed. i want this to be onward gameplay but with a polished story. but they should definitley take their time. dont release it until it is ready. also not particularly happy about this being an exclusive.

      • Ad

        Contractors just added a world war 2 mode and Pavlov is too. They should really make sure this game lands since games with custom mods and maps might actually hold their own against this if they don’t.

  • Maybe it will be launched at OC7?

  • JesuSaveSouls

    I would like this to release today.

  • Arcticu Kitsu

    If my Oculus Rift still functioned without artificial errors I would be praising it being an Oculus exclusive. Even then, I found it stupid how its only on Oculus related devices, especially with how bloated their software is to eventually “brick” your headset forcing you to buy more cables, newer headsets & etc. My headset still fuctions, I know this for a fact. I lost trust in Oculus. Its been artifically blocked with fake ‘No HDMI connection’ errors while my Valve Index works smoothly.

    Respawn Entertainment need to genuinely wake up to allowing those with other types of headsets to play, especially those now with Valve Index headsets thanks to the recent spike of Half-life: Alyx VR experience.

    Sidenote: Shame people will forget VRchat caused a boom to VR headsets & full body tracking from November 2017 onward. VRchat, Beat Saber, & Half-Life Alyx being big sellers. Medal of Honor needs to do the same for being more open to more headsets.

    • Andrew Jakobs

      Your headset certainly isn’t ‘articially blocked’, it’s probably your cable/connector that has a problem.

      • Arcticu Kitsu

        Strongly disagree from my experience there. Two people who thumbed you up also seem to be agreeing with you in ignorance. But yeah, I do admit their cables are trash. They tangle far too easily and their software is trash as well for how bloated it is. It is helpful in certain ways, just trash.

        They had it perfect during late 2017 & early 2018 to then ruin it all from then on forward. Go read up on the Oculus forums and you’ll see how its a common issue.

        My experience with Valve Index is just so much better. I love it.

        • Salman Ahmed

          Look another fanboi .feel sad for you .have to justify your purchase by putting your filth on other headsets

          • Arcticu Kitsu

            I see Salman is salty having to feel the need to post trashy comments on an overly dated comment. I’m still proud of owning a VR headset so it sucks to be you ^_^

            The comment is 4 months old haha! But yeah, once you go VR you can’t go back ^_^

  • gothicvillas

    Exclusive titles just make me vomit sorry. I understand Facebook paid to Respawn, but I dont care. This is bad for VR. Period.

    • Leonardo Almeida

      You can use Revive to play exclusive titles. The Exclusivety are only on Sell by oculus Store, in real life any VR set can play it.

      • wotever99ninynine

        agreed, but not all games work perfectly. and im not going to buy a game not gauranteed to work where i need a third party work around to make it work. i will however pirate them.

  • mirak

    Stop promoting Oculus exclusives

  • MountainK1ng

    Imagine this being released in conjunction with the Quest 2. That would have gotten some attention. Looking forward to this though.

  • wotever99ninynine

    i hope they dont follow in valves/hl alyx’s footsteps. this needs to have proper gun mechanics and decent combat. take games like onward, pavlov, contractors, zero calibre etc (onward specifically) for example and use them for inspiration.

  • Empajadores .

    is on rails?