Pico is gearing up to launch its next VR headset, which may very well be the previously spotted Pico 4 series of standalone headsets. The company says to stay tuned to an official announcement coming on Thursday, September 22nd.

Update (September 22nd, 2022): Pico has now revealed its Pico 4 standalone VR headset. Check out the full info drop here.

The China-based company says it’s indeed announcing a new standalone headset this week, which looks to be the very one that’s hoping to take on Meta in its home turf.

While unconfirmed at this time, the announcement is likely to be centered around the Pico 4 and Pico 4 Pro headsets first spotted in regulatory filings back in July. According to the filing, Pico, a VR hardware subsidiary to Chinese tech giant ByteDance, is expected to launch two nearly identical VR headsets with the exception of Pico 4 Pro’s additional eye and face-tracking function.

Here’s what Pico says in the event’s EventBrite description:

PICO took an innovative approach when launching a new consumer Virtual Reality (VR) product in Europe by actively welcoming feedback from beta users in order to improve the Neo3 Link headset. To show appreciation to our dedicated community of VR enthusiasts, gamers and partners, PICO has something exciting to share with you and is inviting you to join our live stream event in Berlin!

Alleged leaked image of Pico 4 controllers | Image courtesy SkarredGhost

The product announcement is taking place in Berlin, Germany at 2PM GMT+2 on September 22nd (local time here). If you want to follow along, tune into Pico’s YouTube channel or TikTok then.

Although we’ll have to wait and see like everyone else, Pico 4 Pro sounds very much like it’s looking to provide spec feature parity with Meta’s upcoming Quest Pro headset, which Meta is expected to officially unveil at its Connect developer conference next month.

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Unlike Quest Pro, which Meta says will cost significantly more than $800, the Pico 4 line may offer the company a two-pronged strategy into finally entering the consumer VR market in North America.

Since its founding in 2015, Pico has exclusively targeted consumers in China and enterprise users in the West. Only recently the company made its first strides outside of China with the release of Neo 3 Link in Europe back in May, a device that features near spec parity with Quest 2.

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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.

  • And so it begins … bytedance sure has the ressources and technology to take on Meta as a real global competitor.
    If we need another „social media“ corporation that tracks our likings, movements and glances for microtargeting, is entirely another story though…..

  • ViRGiN

    MRTV propagandist and thrillseeker for people who never owned any VR

  • ManFredMann

    If this isn’t going to compete with what meta already has game-wise, and I am talking a a direct library duplicate, very few will switch over just to buy the same games all over again.

    • ViRGiN

      Outside of having even an option to buy everything; as a headset coming from China, games offered on it does not have support for ever-growing VIVOX communication system (voice chat in games) neither support for MOD.IO for workshop content (like Contractors VR uses).

  • xyzs

    The two idiots of the comments cary and virgin (probably true to life nickname) teaming up to denigrate a product not even yet presented…

    • Now just hold on there one second, sir ….
      Your immature name-calling & all joking aside,
      the fact that this is “a product not even yet presented” is IRRELEVANT.

      Use your fuckin’ God-given brains, man:
      out of ALL VR hardware, Quest 2 rules the roost with MILLIONS sold.
      No other HMD, be it PCVR/AIO/2IO/What-the fuck-ever, even comes close.
      This isn’t me “rah-rah!!”-ing Meta or gargling Zuck’s ballsack,
      these are cold hard indisputable F-A-C-T-S …. Being very high quality at a
      very low price is a deadly combination that’s difficult in the extreme to beat.

      Now with all of that in front of Pico, how do you see Pico 4 PRO
      making *any* kind of noise, hmm …? In the Chinese market, sure:
      I can absolutely see it doing gangbuster business.
      But here …?? lol

      Not a fuckin’ chance in Hades.

      • ViRGiN

        those fucktard-haters can’t even make up their mind. one day you are my alt account, another day we ‘team up’.

        but we are always trolls, and can not afford pcvr. if we could, there is there is no way on earth we would be capable of saying anything bad. meanwhile, rec room and beat saber are top of the charts.

        and before you wimps start saying ‘its the same on quest’, you fucking idiots, quest is a mobile platform. and pcvr users with 30xx are playing the same mobile games. BINGO!

      • Andrew Jakobs

        Uhm, Pico neo3 is much better when connected to a PC through cable, it beats Quest 2 by MILES. For library, yeah Quest 2 certainly has the advantage.

        • Shhhhh ….
          The grown-ups are talking.

        • Jason Hurdlow

          Exactly! I care precisely zero what the standalone library is. I want to plug the cable into my RTX 3090 and play simulators without compression garbage (ala Q2). And I don’t care to have to ask Zuck for permission when I do it. I’d have already purchased a Pico if it were for sale here. This new one could be ‘it’.

      • Jistuce

        You know, I’ve seen plenty of locked-down markets taken over by newcomers. I do remember people believing the PlayStation would fail because there wasn’t room between Nintendo and Sega for a new player. We all know how that went.

        Saying that competition can’t do anything because the Quest 2 is succcessful is incredibly shortsighted.

        • ViRGiN

          stop trolling

  • Rudl Za Vedno

    Pico 4 = My next headset… Eat dust Evil Zuck https://media3.giphy.com/media/QaN2WECfxrcaElu0Af/giphy.gif

    • ViRGiN

      yeah, that’s gonna happen.

      • Rudl Za Vedno

        TikTok is the future. Meta is for grandmas & grandpas.

        • ViRGiN

          yeah but if you ever change your headset, you will loose access to your games.
          so i thought STEAM was/is/will be the future?

    • Andrew Jakobs

      How much do you want to spend nax on a new headset?

      • Good question.
        I know you aren’t asking me,
        but I’ll answer anyway because I like the question.
        I’d say, uhhh …. $599 …?

  • ViRGiN

    wow, then my respect towards you went a big notch down.
    MRTV is a meta hater who shilled for everything but Quest, but since nothing else really matters on youtube, he went back to it’s coverage. a facebook hater who runs facebook profile and keeps stuff public, then spreads fearmongering about it. absolute lack of any quality. he is incapable of playing any vr games, just “testing” them and telling you how awesome X headset is. his patreon hit an all-time low, despite raising initial ‘price’ from $1 to $5. people are waking up.

    thrillseeker is just a positive nancy. if it’s vr, it’s great. he is a weeb. he is a shill for vail now. most of his videos make a sharp turn to include vail one way or another – and he literally works next door to them. gets paid by them. then denies any shilling lol! classic youtuber clickbait – “X” WILL CHANGE VR LANDSCAPE FOREVER! “body tracking” and anime girl avatar is all there is to his personality.

  • ViRGiN

    I still can’t respect someone who gave up his “beliefs”. He really needs Quest content for anything close to resemblance relevancy. He needs Quest, Quest doesn’t need him. He always shilled for the wrong horse – first daydream, then pimax, then hp g2, even varjo came on the list.

    His complete incompetence in vr gaming absolutetly destroys any reputation he might have had regarding usability of the headsets. He was talking about “very good trakcing” of WMR HP G2, by taking forever of lining shots in stationy practice target range in pavlov… A 10 year old child will beat him at any VR game. He also streamed himself using G2 with arms constantly bent to stay in the coverage of cameras lol.

    • I wouldn’t say “he shilled for the wrong horse”, necessarily.
      Seb’s attitude in particular, and of MRTV in general, is to cover
      the entire gamut of VR hardware. You want Quest & Index reviews on YouTube? There’s a billion places for that. But almost all those HMDs you mention barely get any kind of coverage: really, in-depth coverage at least. So he wants to shine a light on VR HMDs that might otherwise fly un-noticed under people’s radar.

      • ViRGiN

        it’s not “honest gameplay” cause he is not playing the game, he is merely present during game exe running. wtf is this shit. he is completly absent of any logic during gameplay, ever. he seriously is incapable of playing anything, how on earth can you accept that? nobody is talking about “pro” levels or anything close that. it’s just every gameplay from him is like he is using vr for the very first time in his life, and then tells you to buy it cause it has great tracking.
        big thumbs down for your blindness.

  • Andrew Jakobs

    Well according to some (solid) rumors, the Quest Pro is gonna cost around $1500. The placeholder for the pico4 seems to be around $1400. Don’t count on these headsets being sold much to mainstream users like the current Quest 2 has, it’ll be enthousiasts and businesses buying these Quest Pro and Pico 4 if they have prices well above $800.
    But looking forward to the reveal, more headsets the better. And maybe Valve will surprise us with a new headset based on the steamdeck platform for a price well below the $1000 mark.

    • NL_VR

      You got it wrong.
      Pico 4 will be a subsidized headset.
      Pico 4 Pro will be the more expensive alternative

    • Sofian

      500 max for non pro version

      • Andrew Jakobs

        Nope, I think it’ll be more like 1200 for non pro and 1400 for pro. Ofcourse I hope it’ll be more around what you state, but I doubt it if the chinese placeholder in the ad for the event is already stating $1400.

        • Sofian

          Nothing in the leaked specs of the Pico 4 would justify being 3x the price of a Quest 2.
          And you say it yourself it’s a placeholder, other (maybe) than being a 4 figures price (in yuan) there is nothing to deduct from it.

    • Shuozhe Nan

      Pico has reduced the price for neo3 to ~240€ since 816 sale on JD/Taobao (from ~370). I hope the prices stays there until stock is gone.. and they will place pico4 around 3s mrsp.
      neo3 pro is currently ~800€ and 1.1k with eye tracking (and a package with haptic gloves) with no price drop, not sure if 4 pro will release in the near future, or will be significantly more expensive.

      Western release are usually slightly more expensive (on products without tariff), but e.g. neo 3 Link is just a pro, and was a lot cheaper. Kinda hopes someone would starts selling standalones in Germany in offline stores, everyone I showed my Rift/Q2 still expect them to be a lot more expensive (“must cost thousands to play VR”)

      • ViRGiN

        nobody cares about price on taobao. and when you start factoring import costs, taxes, lack of easy warranty, waiting time etc – it makes zero sense to buy pico neo 3, unless you are qanon grade facebook hater who purchases games ONLY on steam cause reasons.

    • Christian Schildwaechter

      The RMB 9999 price listing on Taobao is for the Pico 4, not the Pico 4 Pro, and it is the same price for all four listed configurations of 128GB/256GB with and without accessories, so it is clearly not the final price, only a placeholder. The Pico 4 Pro might end up at a similar price to Quest Pro, but while Meta pushes the Pro for VR conferencing and offers a ready-to-go solution with Horizon Workrooms, Pico so far has no comparable offer that would add direct value for business customers, so I think they will have to price the Pico 4 Pro significantly lower.

      I’d expect the regular Pico 4 price to be more aligned with the Neo 3 Link, as it is positioned as the successor. It would be a strange/inconsistent strategy to first take the Neo 3 Pro with a rather high price, basically rerelease it as the Neo 3 Link at a much reduced/subsidized price to enter the consumer market, only to then immediately jump back to professional VR prices for the successor a few months later. ByteDance is very clearly a consumer oriented company, their strategic goals should be similar to Meta’s and mostly about social VR, meaning they also have to go for the same consumers as Meta.

      John Carmack estimated that the Pro model wouldn’t catch more than 10% of the total Quest market, and even that will depend on whether businesses will be willing to use VR conferencing. Significant performance benefits from eye tracking as seen on PS5/PSVR 2 are currently rather unlikely on mobile VR due to the extra computational requirements, so without some type of social VR as the main use case, there will be limited benefits and therefore willingness to pay the much higher price of the Pro.

      Zuckerberg once said that a sustainable platform needs at least 10mn (active) users. Meta has now sold more than 10mn Quest 2, we are still guessing how many of these are still in use, but a HMD/platform that can only attracts 1/10th of these numbers clearly wouldn’t qualify, so both Pico and Meta still have to grow mostly with consumer HMDs.

    • MosBen

      Surely that’s $1,400 for the Pico 4 Pro, with the regular Pico 4 being much closer to the Quest 2 in price, right?

      • Andrew Jakobs

        With the pro seemingly only having eyetracking and colorpassthrough, I can’t imagine why it would be almost $800 more for the pro, eyetracking is $200 extra at most, and color passthrough only a few quid extra.

        • MosBen

          Well, the Pico 4 will be sold for less than the Quest 2, it seems.

  • ViRGiN

    always has been. blows my mind when PCVR people blame Meta for onward being dogshit, when in reality it was already dogshit before quest was even a thing. it became even worse after quest release, but never ever it was anywhere near okay good.
    btw recently contractors surpassed onward in ‘top selling’ section of quest. but i still can’t wrap my head around how that game appeals to absolute youngsters – it barely has any respawn modes. i think it’s just cave-digging of few years old clickbait youtube videos claiming “ONWARD IS THE BEST VR SHOOTER PERIOD”

  • ViRGiN

    it will be a massive success among all these people screaming “competition always leads to better products”, so that they can buy a competing product and use it 100% exclusively with steam vr. you know, all three of them.

  • hzz11

    If the Pico 4 offers similar functionality as the now more expensive Quest 2 is has a real chance to get into the market. Especially if its an upgrade. A VR setup should be considered more like a monitor than a “console”. Give me the best specs for the cheapest price and I’ll be happy.

    • Asian market, yeah.
      American market, NOOOOOO.

  • I can’t wait. With this device hopefully Pico can compete with Meta!

  • Guest

    Does this mean the commentard-war is over?

  • MosBen

    I mean, for me, I skipped the Quest 2 specifically due to FB, so the Pico is at least appealing. I’m not committing to buy one, but I’m definitely in the market and it looks like an option.

    • ViRGiN

      eternal glory to winnie the pooh!
      fck facebook spying capablities! CHINA IS ONE!

  • Jistuce

    Because you don’t actually have a good reason, just an emotional attachment to a brand.

    I could’ve named any number of markets where a dominant player fell flat on their face as some irrelevant upstart trampled them. I chose one that was likely to be familiar to the audience.

    In many cases, it was because the dominant players didn’t take competition seriously, or misjudged the direction the market was moving. But that is by no means all cases.