With the end of Samsung Gear VR, it seems the South Korean tech giant is also doing away with its VR video apps as well. The company is ending service for all of its Samsung XR apps across the web, mobile, and VR headset platforms.
The company quietly issued an update on the Samsung XR website on Monday, stating that all of its XR services will terminate on September 30th, 2020. The news was first covered by CNET.
Samsung XR (ex-Samsung VR) is the company’s VR video hosting platform which featured both premium and user-uploaded content.
At the time of this writing, Samsung has already pulled the plug on 360 degree video uploads and premium video purchases, and has stopped updates all Samsung XR and Samsung VR Video clients.
Users who purchased premium content there will be able to access it until the September 30th cutoff date. Don’t go looking for a refund though, because Samsung says, as per the Samsung XR Terms of Service, that “all sales of purchased content are final.”
Starting June 30th, Samsung will be ripping support for the Samsung VR Video app from Oculus Go, Oculus Rift, and Oculus Quest, with its removal from the Oculus Store.
The last nail in the coffin: on September 30th the company is pulling support for Gear VR and Windows VR headsets via the Mixed Reality Store. All Samsung XR user accounts will also be disabled and removed, which includes permanently deleting account information, associated data, and user videos published on the platform. The Samsung XR mobile app will no longer be supported on Android devices, and will be removed from the Galaxy Store and Google Play.
Samsung says that with the XR pullback, that the company is “rethinking its immersive video distribution service, especially given that Gear VR is no longer available.”
“We remain engaged with the ecosystem, exploring the potential of mobile AR and volumetric technologies,” the company says.
