The XR Weekly Digest (January 15, 2025): CES Showcases Numerous XR Devices, Quest 3S Tops 2024 Console Sales, and More!

Back from my incredible adventure at CES in Italy, I’m still riding the wave of excitement from attending such a major event. Despite the inevitable post-event fatigue, the experience was totally worth it, satisfying my curiosity as a blogger, igniting my enthusiasm as a tech fan, and inspiring my entrepreneurial spirit. CES is obviously the highlight of this week’s recap, but we’ve got some other intriguing stories that weren’t directly linked to the event. I’ll dig into those shortly! (Apologies for the newsletter delay—I was swamped with tasks post-Vegas.)

Top News of the Week

Exploring the XR Innovations at CES

CES, known for being the ultimate tech showcase, didn’t disappoint, especially with an area dedicated to XR technology. There was no shortage of XR professionals present, giving us hope that, despite its niche status, XR is on the upswing. We saw a lot of smartglasses, prominently featuring AI integrations. Highlights included the Ray-Ban Meta and the Halliday glasses with their tiny displays. Goertek, a key XR device manufacturer, offered new design concepts for smartglasses, paving the way for more innovations in this sector. While CES didn’t have any groundbreaking announcements for XR, giants like NVIDIA and Sony shared some exciting news. NVIDIA unveiled its RTX 50 series, promising to amplify PCVR performance, with prices that mirror the 40 series except the 5090, which caps at $2000. They also introduced their cloud service, Geforce Now, expanding its reach to Quest, Pico, and Apple Vision Pro—making it easier for MR users to experience flatscreen gaming on a vast virtual screen. On the Sony front, they announced the XYN range focusing on creative XR applications. The details were a bit vague, with mentions of a new headset and enhanced motion tracking, but with limited access for attendees. Overall, it’s great to see Sony’s growing interest in digital spaces. HDMI’s announcement of a 2.2 specification with 96Gb/s bandwidth also caught my attention—could this prompt some headsets to reconsider using HDMI ports? I’ve shared my experiences with several XR devices I tested at CES, including the Play For Dream headset, which was my standout. Others, like Amanda Watson, echoed this sentiment—it was fantastic meeting her for the first time. For those who couldn’t attend, I’ve recorded a video of the entire XR area, linked below. While it wasn’t an extraordinary CES for XR, it was still pretty solid.

Other Relevant News

Meta Quest 3S Sets Sales Records on Amazon in 2024

It’s thrilling to report that the Meta Quest 3S claimed the title of Amazon’s top-selling console for 2024—not just in the VR category but across all gaming consoles, securing the third spot in the entire Video Games section. Achieving this while only launching in October is remarkable. Various metrics point to the Quest 3S’s fantastic holiday performance. Besides topping Amazon, the Meta Horizon app also led the Apple App Store, and a surge in players for Batman Arkham Shadow around Christmas suggests a holiday boost for the Quest 3S. Although this doesn’t mean VR adoption soared, it certainly indicates steady growth, especially with new headsets being exchanged as gifts.

Meta Ends Production of Quest Pro

In a somewhat unsurprising move, Meta has ceased production of the Quest Pro, their first prosumer headset. The device is no longer available on their website, with a prompt to consider the Quest 3 instead. However, its controllers can still be purchased separately. The Quest Pro never quite hit the mark—the initial price of $1500 quickly dropped to $1000 due to lackluster sales. Despite being withdrawn from the market, I’ll miss its unique eye and face tracking features, useful for specific research applications. Interestingly, just days after this announcement, rumors emerged about ASUS’ upcoming headset featuring similar tracking tech. It seems like a calculated leak to reassure users about the Horizon platform’s continued innovation.

News Worth Mentioning

ASUS ROG VR Headset Adding Face Tracking

Trusted leaker Luna has shared insights on ASUS’s upcoming ROG VR headset, code-named Tarius. Set to run on HorizonOS, it’s rumored to include both eye and face tracking, with QD-LCD or micro OLED displays. The fact that progress on third-party Horizon headsets is underway is encouraging!

Infinite Reality Secures $3 Billion in Funding

Infinite Reality, focused on immersive web content creation with WebXR, shocked the XR world by securing $3 billion in funding from a single investor. This incredible sum places them alongside OpenAI in terms of investment prestige. It raises some questions about the investor’s background, presumably hailing from the Middle East, and makes me realize I need to meet some new generous friends!

Innovative VR Mobility Practices Unveiled

This week’s "What The F" video showcases a VR project allowing players to move while lying supine. By cycling their feet in this position, users “walk” in VR—an intense ab workout, if nothing else. But honestly, why?

DotLumen: Aiding Mobility for the Visually Impaired

DotLumen’s project offers a transformative solution for the visually impaired. Their headset scans surroundings, guiding users along obstacle-free paths, which could be revolutionary for those with vision challenges.

Meta’s Quest 3S Gets a Price Cut

There’s a new $50 discount on the Meta Quest 3S 256GB, bundled with Batman Arkham Shadow. Although supposedly exclusive to Meta’s site, many retailers have followed suit, likely to boost sales of the higher storage option.

Sanzaru Games Teases Upcoming Projects

Following the final update for Asgard’s Wrath 2, Sanzaru Games is pivoting towards its next venture, promising some “AWESOME stuff.” Speculation is rife about their possible mixed reality endeavors, encouraged by their parent company, Meta.

Content News Roundup

• Stress Level Zero is bringing Boneworks to Quest 3, with an upcoming new game.
• Synth Riders adds an ’80s pack with a cheeky rickroll.
• Human Within explores AI’s influence on humanity and is available on Quest.
• The fitness game Shardfall: FitQuest VR launches on Quest.
• Detective VR, a narrative investigation game, arrives on February 27.
• Chrono Weaver’s time-travel puzzler is now live on Quest and Steam.
• I Am Security rises to top app status post-update.
• The air combat game Dawn of Jets hits early access.
• Open-world PC VR game Virtual Hunter releases on January 15.

Content Reviews: Insights into the Latest Games

• Epyka excels as a puzzle-adventure, albeit short in length.
• Pirates VR: Jolly Roger shines visually but suffers from design aches.
• Shardfall: FitQuest VR, reminiscent of Ring Fit Adventure, offers fun workouts.
• Gears & Goo delights as a tower defense game on Apple Vision Pro.

Other Tidbits

A Redditor has designed a nifty add-on for Oculus Touch controllers to improve VR combat performance! There’s also a film adaptation of the game Exit 8 in the works—I’ll be curious to see how it plays out. Road To VR shares first thoughts on Surreal Touch controllers, while Minecraft with over 100 mods offers an enhanced VR experience, including full-body tracking! Unity developers can access an excellent Lens Studio intro as well.

News from Partners and Friends

I must give a shoutout to Tyriel Wood, my comrade during CES 2025. He’s crafting some exciting XR content, so be sure to follow his YouTube channel for updates on our adventures!

Lighter XR Moments

These hilarious links capture some wacky XR instances:

• Someone driving a truck in mixed reality.
• Gemini going a tad overboard.
• Kids experiencing hilarious VR moments.
• The chaos of Steam Sales.
• Crazily realistic AI antics.
• Neo being Neo—they all bring a smile!

Supporting Good Causes

Instead of donations to the blog, I encourage contributing to those impacted by current global conflicts. Please consider donating to the Red Cross to aid Ukrainian humanitarian efforts. Here’s a quick thank-you to my amazing Patreon supporters for backing this journey. Here’s the link to donate:

Support The Red Cross in Ukraine

Lastly, remember to explore my affiliate links that help keep this blog running. Until next time, keep innovating!