Just Dance VR Is Pico 4’s First Major Exclusive
Pico will have its first major exclusive game in 2023 with Just Dance VR from Ubisoft.
The immensely popular music game franchise is coming “exclusively” to Pico next year. Though details are extremely light at the moment, the addition to Pico’s lineup promises a major rhythm game for players using Pico’s latest standalone consumer headset.
Pico teased the following:
“Just Dance is the most popular game music franchise of all time. The game aims to connect everyone through the feel-good power of dance. For the very first time, PICO gives the VR form of Just Dance a go, thanks to our partnership with Ubisoft.
It’s your turn – just jump into the virtual world, and just dance! People will really be impressed by the realistic and immersive experience of trying out VR gaming for the first time.”
We’ve tried out Pico 4 briefly and plan to review the device in the coming weeks, but barring a major hitch in its hardware or software it appears Quest 2 faces some stiff competition for the first time in standalone VR. Whereas Meta acquired VR’s most popular game Beat Saber back in 2019 and partnered with developers on titles such as Dance Central VR, Pico is catching up as it secures some of the most popular VR games for its platform on a per-title basis. Just Dance VR, however, marks the beginning of a new era as it will give fans of the series as well as rhythm games in general a major reason to consider Pico over a Quest 2. Many of the titles on Quest have been ported to Pico already, and today the company announced more including The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners Chapter 2: Retribution, Peaky Blinders: The King’s Ransom, Ruins Magus, Green Hell, and Ultimechs.
While Pico 4 has built-in PC VR streaming from a local PC, the creator of Virtual Desktop Guy Godin also confirmed on Twitter his streaming app will be on Pico 4 as well, writing that “you’ll be able to stream all your favorite SteamVR and Oculus games wirelessly.”
We’re curious to find details of whether the exclusivity agreement between Ubisoft and Pico is for a certain period or locked to the platform. Check back with UploadVR in the coming months as we chart out the next steps in VR.
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Ian Hamilton
Ian Hamilton is a journalist based in Arkansas and managing editor at UploadVR. He’s covered VR full-time since 2015 as well as Oculus VR since 2012. He is interested in the people creating VR and AR hardware and software, their motivations, and how that work affects the people who spend significant time in simulations.
If you have information to pass along you can send him a direct message on Twitter, Facebook or via email.
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The Best Dance Games On The Oculus Quest
Dance games have always been a popular genre; however, dance games are better than ever in virtual reality. Because of the nature of VR, you can use your body as a controller while you dance the night away, which is a fun feature that makes dancing even more immersive.
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Although all virtual reality headsets feature great dance games, the Oculus Quest is particularly useful for this genre since it’s a wireless headset, so you won’t have to worry about tripping over wires.
The Quest also doesn’t rely on outside tracking cameras, which makes it easier to move around in your play space without having to worry about tracking issues. Fans often call dance games «rhythm games» because they incorporate mechanics that aren’t traditional dancing but instead new forms of dancing. There’s an extensive collection of dance games on the Oculus Quest headset, and these are the best ones you can experience.
Updated on March 13, 2022 by Michael Caruso: The Oculus Quest is home to a library of games spanning many different genres. There are lots of games to pick from, but since music is such a popular concept, dance games are often one of the best genres of games. Outside of the most popular games like Beat Saber and Pistol Whip, there are tons of other dance games to discover. Here are a few more games that you can play to dance the day away in virtual reality.
12/12 OhShape
OhShape’s core goal is to get players to exercise, but in a way that’s more fun than simply going for a run.
Follow along to the music and try to correctly pose, punch and dodge obstacles in your environment to win the match.
There are lots of great songs to dance to in OhShape, but you can also use custom songs as they have official support within the game. You can experience four separate difficulty settings too, so you can start off slowly and move up to harder stages as you see fit.
11/12 Audio Trip
The mechanics in Audio Trip are similar to that of Beat Saber, but there are some key differences. First off, there are more mechanics than punching and dodging, including a fun ribbon that you can ride with your hands. Additionally, you’ll enjoy the unique futuristic theme that Audio Trip has become known for.
There’s loads of content within Audio Trip, including 21 songs and over 80 levels in total. If you want to play a rhythm game similar to Beat Saber with some key differences, then try Audio Trip for a new experience.
10/12 Kizuna AI
Kizuna AI features the character Kizuna, and it has an anime theme that will resonate with you if you’re a fan of the genre.
Dance along with Kizuna to many different songs by tapping the beats as they fly past you in each track.
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It can feel somewhat lonely to dance by yourself in other VR rhythm games, so Kizuna AI is a welcome game that offers a virtual friend to dance with inside the Oculus Quest. You should definitely try Kizuna AI if you’re a fan of anime or dancing since it merges both genres into one amazing game.
9/12 Audio Shield
Audio Shield offers a unique mechanic that most other rhythm games on the Oculus Quest could only dream of. In Audio Shields, you can download your favorite songs from the Oculus Browser and use them within the game, which means you’ll have a much larger selection than in games like Pistol Whip.
If you don’t want to download any songs, then that’s ok too because Audio Shield comes preloaded with 20 songs from the start. The dancing in Audio Shield resembles other rhythm games where the notes come rolling in, and you have to hit them before they disappear.
Regardless of your favorite song, Audio Shield is a great game with a large selection of fantastic music that you can dance to in the same fashion as other VR rhythm games.
8/12 REAKT Performance Trainer
REAKT Performance Trainer is a game that’s not as heavy on the music but instead focuses primarily on the exercise side of things. Orbs come rolling in, and you have to watch carefully if you want to make it through the match.
Although there are not as many flashy songs as in other rhythm games, there’s always some ambient music playing in the background during your workout, and it may even be preferable if you enjoy softer instrumental songs. If you want a game that shifts its focus on the exercise side of the equation, then you’ll probably enjoy REAKT Performance Trainer.
7/12 Synth Riders
Synth Riders is a rhythm game with a lot of twists. The targets you have to hit fly by you both above and below your in-game body, and you have to hit them to win each match.
This gameplay feels very refreshing compared to other dance games, which is why it’s one of the best rhythm games currently available on VR headsets. You have to use your motion controllers to hit each target when they come near you.
Not only does Synth Riders have an innovative concept with fast-paced dancing, but there are also over 50 songs to go with the gameplay. If you enjoy VR dance games, then Synth Riders is a must-play.
6/12 Space Channel 5 Kinda Funky News Flash!
Space Channel 5 Kinda Funky News Flash brings one of the most unique rhythm concepts to the Oculus Quest. The dancing in Space Channel 5 is what you would expect from a dance game; however, this game truly shines because of its cast of characters returning from the Space Channel 5 franchise.
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Although the dancing is fairly standard in Space Channel 5 Kinda Funky News Flash, there are still many notable aspects of it that make it a lot of fun to play.
The dancing and environments are futuristic, and the dance moves are diverse throughout the game. Space Channel 5 Kinda Funky News Flash isn’t too difficult when you compare it to other rhythm games on the Oculus Quest; however, it still gives you enough of a challenge to enjoy yourself.
5/12 Pistol Whip
Pistol Whip has an innovative concept. In this game, you use guns to shoot the targets while music plays throughout the arena. The targets will try to attack you, and you have to dodge their bullets to avoid losing. The fast-paced gameplay is something special since most other similar games can’t replicate its formula in the same way.
RELATED: The Oculus Quest Games That Are Too Intense For People New To VR
Additionally, there are targets shooting at you from multiple levels including from above you, which adds an extra challenge that isn’t present in most dance games. If you enjoy VR shooters, then you’ll have a blast playing Pistol Whip and defeating targets as they try to shoot you.
4/12 Hatsune Miku VR
Hatsune Miku VR is an anime-themed dream come true for many fans of this character. The gameplay is somewhat basic for a dance game; however, that doesn’t take away from the challenge that you’ll face at certain points. You have to use your motion controllers to hit the targets when they come near you, which offers a challenge because of the speed at which they approach you.
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The most notable feature in Hatsune Miku VR is the ability to dance alongside Hatsune Miku, which is an experience that many fans want to have. VR games rarely bring characters like Hatsune Miku into a game; however, when they do, it’s always a blast.
3/12 Audica
Audica is similar to Pistol Whip because you use guns to shoot targets. However, the projectiles feel more like blasts than bullets, and you can shoot them at targets that fly much differently than standard targets in a dance game.
The matches take place in a cosmic setting, which is a nice change of pace from the colorful arenas that many rhythm games feature.
If you want a real challenge, then you can play on Expert difficulty, which may take you a long time to master completely. With over 30 songs, you’ll have an experience you won’t forget in Audacia. There are also leaderboards so that you can compete with other players.
2/12 Beat Saber
There are a lot of games that have made virtual reality into what it is today, and Beat Saber is one of them. In Beat Saber, you have to hit blocks that fly past you with varying speeds, depending on the difficulty you’re playing. You also need to be careful to avoid the obstacles in your way during a song.
There are many songs you can choose from, including modern music that is popular today. There are also many extra song packs available if you don’t like the songs that come with the base game. The feature that makes Beat Saber stand out among other dance games is the lightsabers you wield to hit the blocks during a match.
Although the lightsabers may seem like a simple feature, there’s nothing more fun than dancing to your favorite songs with lightsabers in your hands. Beat Saber is available on most of the popular VR headsets, including the Oculus Quest and the Playstation VR headset.
1/12 Dance Central
Dance Central is a unique VR rhythm game because it puts you in the center of a dance club with many popular songs for you to dance to with others. You can play by yourself; however, there’s also an online mode so you can play with your friends to compete or simply have a fun time.
The song roster in Dance Central is also fantastic because it features popular modern songs and songs that date back decades for those who like older music. Overall, Dance Central is a complete experience with lots of songs, fun dance routines, and a multiplayer mode to bring it all together.
NEXT: The VR Games That Don’t Give You Motion Sickness
Oculus Rift S full review / Habr
On May 21, shipments of the new PCVR helmet from Oculus (Facebook) will begin, which bears the name Rift S and costs $399.
What can the letter S stand for in this title? Superior (superior)? Is this helmet really superior to its Oculus Rift predecessor? It is believed that rather the letter S went to this gadget from the word Simplified — simplified. Let me try to explain why.
Simplified setting
The good old Oculus Rift (no longer available for purchase) was notorious for its confusing setup. For its standard operation, 2 external infrared USB cameras were needed, and for a full-fledged roomscale experience, you need to connect a third sensor. Hundreds of users shared online their life hacks for installing sensors for the game.
The whole saga was supplemented by a not entirely transparent hardware setup — sometimes an application on a computer asked to turn the sensor 10 degrees clockwise, and then turn it back to its original place — and everything started working.
The former tracking with external USB sensors has been dropped in favor of Inside-Out tracking (called Insight) using five cameras on the helmet itself.
No more external additional devices, but only a VR helmet, the cable of which must be connected to one USB and one DP port.
Rift S controllers are very similar to the good old Touch, but the rings are now turned upside down. The exact same controllers are used on the standalone Oculus Quest, so you can use one set of controllers if you purchase both sets. Oculus Touch still holds the bar for number 1 controllers for virtual reality (this article was written before the release of the Valve Index and Pimax Sword).
Simplified design
The Oculus Rift S was developed in partnership with Lenovo. This can be seen immediately by the branded Halo strap, with which the helmet is attached to the head.
A similar mount can be found on the Lenovo Explorer helmet or the Playstation VR for example. The size is changed with a wheel on the back of the head, and with the help of a button on the bottom of the helmet, you can move the lenses away from the face to accommodate glasses or to better fit the set to the shape of the head.
Most users find this mounting method more comfortable than the Rift. Although the mass of such a mount is greater, but all the weight is now held on the forehead and back of the head, so the helmet no longer presses on the face. However, with the introduction of the Halo strap, it is no longer possible to tilt the helmet itself up or down in order to catch the «sweetspot» lens clarity area, which can be a critical drawback for people with certain head shapes.
The Rift S also got rid of the physical IPD (interpupillary distance) setting due to design features. And although you can change this parameter using the built-in software, for some people (if the eyes are set very close to each other or vice versa), this method may not work, so it’s better to check on your own experience before buying (the easiest way to do this now, for example, on the Playstation VR).
And the last disadvantage of such a strap is the inability to lean your head (for example, if you want to reclining to watch a movie), since the rear attachment wheel will rest and cause discomfort.
Simplified dive
The presence of five cameras on the Rift S allows you to transfer a stereoscopic image of the real world around the user to the helmet displays. This simplifies not only the setup of the playing area, but also the control of security during the game. The image from the cameras can be displayed on the screens at any time using a button on the controller, which simplifies interaction with the outside world during a VR session — if necessary, for example, take a mug of coffee from the table, address someone in the room or move furniture to the side.
Optics
The Oculus Rift S has a single LCD panel inside, resulting in a higher sub-pixel density and a sharper picture compared to the OLED on the Oculus Quest or Oculus Rift. These aren’t the sharpest or highest contrast displays on the market, but text will be easier to read than on the original Rift. Another feature worth paying attention to is the refresh rate.
It is 80 Hz instead of 90 Hz on other first generation helmets. Rather, the decrease in hertz is associated with a desire to lower the system requirements for computers. 80 FPS should protect the vast majority of users from the motion sickness that occurs in VR at frame rates below 72 FPS, but if you’re planning on playing high-paced games, then don’t rush to make a choice and be sure to try a new helmet on yourself before buying a Rift S .
Black levels are not as deep as OLED panels, and horror fans will notice. But most won’t even notice the difference. Therefore, if this factor bothers you, be sure to test the black level, for example, on an Oculus Go helmet to see if the Oculus Rift S is right for you. which plagued the original rift so much (see illustration below).
Simplified sound
A very big difference from the original Rift is the audio system of the new Rift S. Now these are speakers built into the helmet. It’s no longer a headphone like its predecessor, but it’s also not the same solution as on the Oculus Go and Oculus Quest helmets.
The sound quality has undergone tangible negative changes and the low frequencies have suffered the most. Of course, it is possible to connect your own headphones via the 3.5 jack, but with the Halo strap, this not only turns VR immersion into a two-stage process (put on the helmet first, then grab the headphones by touch and pull them on, trying to conveniently hide the wires), but also makes it practically it is not possible to use over-the-head headphones.
VR enthusiasts have already found a solution to this problem — you can buy Koss Porta Pro headphones and attach them using a 3D printed mount from the guys at Tested www.thingiverse.com/thing:3615447, but this does not change the fact that that the Rift S has downgraded the sound quality of its predecessor for the sake of simplicity.
Tracking
Despite concerns, Insight tracking with Oculus cameras has proven to be much better than the Windows Mixed Reality sets and in some cases even better than the original Rift.
The tracking area of the controllers is not only higher than the viewing angle, but thanks to the information from the IMU sensors of the Oculus Touch, it can even cover the blind spots behind in some cases. Of course, there may be situations in which Insight tracking loses — these are sports games (for example, Echo Arena or The Climb), where the hands are very often far out of sight, but the situation is far from critical, and players can learn to work around situations with the blind zones.
Total
The Oculus Rift S is definitely not the Oculus Rift 2.0. And maybe not even Oculus Rift 1.5. The set has many controversial qualities that are unlikely to convince owners of first-generation helmets to switch to the new product from Facebook. The competition in the PCVR market is getting too intense (we see Valve Index, HP Reverb, Pimax 5K+, HTC Vive Pro Eye, Samsung Odyssey+) and it’s possible that Oculus just stopped fighting for the first wave of VR headsets.
Instead, they created a helmet to engage a new audience — as simple as possible, comfortable and user-friendly. This is very good for the virtual reality ecosystem, for «casual» users, but not enough for an upgrade.
Oh lucky man: how the creator of the Oculus Rift made $500 million at age 21
Palmer Lucky is the author of the most promising virtual reality technology, bought by Facebook for $2 billion in the pilot stage. Will the young entrepreneur justify his hopes?
It is dark and uncomfortable in the hold of the Sevastopol space station. It’s just an Alien: Isolation game based on the Alien movie franchise, but my heart skips a beat at every sudden sound — I’m wearing an Oculus Rift virtual reality helmet, so when I turn my head to look around, the world moves with me. Everything seems so damn real. Very believable — and very scary.
Suddenly, the heavy blast doors slide open and a monster pounces on me. Numb with horror, I involuntarily scream.
Finished reading here
At that moment, laughter is heard from behind — this time in the real world. Palmer Lucky, creator of the Rift, was sneaking a peek at my game. “You didn’t last long,” he jokes.
Lucky has been fond of such games since childhood. He started designing virtual reality helmets at the age of 16. At 19, he founded Oculus VR. At 21, he sold it to Facebook for $ 2 billion, although the portfolio contained only a working prototype: no revenue, no finished commercial product. At 22, Palmer is poised to make the next breakthrough that generations of engineers before him failed to achieve: making virtual reality technology available to the masses.
If you don’t believe in Lucky, you’ve probably never worn a Rift helmet.
Personal experience recruits new fans of the product. It is Oculus that is capable of making a revolution in the field of mass communications, comparable in scale to the invention of the telephone or television, Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg explained his interest. For him, buying a startup for a fantastic sum was the most daring deal, because it did not have a multimillion-dollar user base, as in the case of WhatsApp, nor clear prospects for monetization, as is the case with Instagram.
“We believe that one day virtual reality will become part of everyday life for billions of people,” he wrote. “With the presence effect, you can share any space and any experience.”
The prospects for new technology are amazing. Imagine that you no longer have to go to the office because you can communicate with colleagues in a virtual office.
In virtual stores there will be a function to remotely try on the things you like. Virtual operations will allow surgeons to master the most daring techniques without risk to patients. Virtual classrooms will bring together students from all over the world. And so on. “I took the red pill,” admits Michael Nymark, an IT industry veteran who has worked at Apple, Lucasfilm, and the MIT Media Lab. “I used to be a skeptic, but with Rift, virtual reality helmets have a future.”
These are intoxicating dreams for the whole world — but above all for Lucky himself. The Facebook deal turned an entrepreneur barely old enough to buy alcohol in the US into a $500 million fortune. No one in the history of the tech business, not even Zuckerberg himself, has amassed that kind of wealth at that age. In 2015, Lucky will have to prove that he is worthy of the advances given.
As with Google and Apple, the Oculus story began in a California garage.
Lucky wasn’t a high-spirited Stanford alumnus or an Internet company employee—he was just an addictive teenager, the son of a Long Beach car salesman and a housewife. The family opted for the precocious Palmer and his three sisters to be homeschooled. Parents did everything for the development of talents in children. Palmer studied Italian opera and learned to sing like gondoliers. He played golf—at least until another kid hit him in the face with a club, cracking his jaw and leaving a deep scar on Los Angeles’ most prominent chin since comedian Jay Leno. In addition, Lucky has acquired unexpected knowledge in a wide variety of fields. “Beef at McDonald’s is 100% meat with no fillers, the only thing besides meat is 1% salt and pepper,” he said as we walked past one of the chain’s restaurants in the afternoon. “Regular hamburgers and fries have a lot more calories, a lot more fat.”
Eventually, the gifted teenager spent most of his free time either playing video games (Chrono Trigger and GoldenEye 64 were his favorites) or watching science fiction films (The Matrix and The Lawnmower Man).
Then hobbies converged at one point. “Virtual reality is present in so many science fiction films that even if you are not very interested in these technologies, you come to them through a love of science fiction,” says Lucky. “It happened to me too. All my life I thought that virtual reality is very cool and it should exist somewhere in secret military laboratories.
The idea of immersive computer displays dates back to the 1960s. The first prototypes of virtual reality devices were primitive, bulky and monstrously expensive, usually for the military, for example, as US Air Force flight simulators. In the 1980s, the boom of personal computers gave hope for the emergence of compact and easy-to-use virtual reality helmets. The idea began to permeate widely in art, starting with William Gibson’s Neuromancer, and reached its peak of popularity in 1995, when more than a dozen themed films were released, including Johnny Mnemonic and Strange Days.
But despite the box office success of Hollywood fantasy, virtual reality devices have not become more accessible. Some projects were closed due to unprofitability. In the early 1990s, Hasbro spent at least $59 million and three years of work building the Home Virtual Reality System set-top box and headset, but eventually had to abandon the product. Most often, technical difficulties got in the way of developers. At 19In 1996, Nintendo released the Virtual Boy for $180, but the promise of realistic 3D graphics fell short. In practice, the device’s low-resolution red monochrome display with vibrating mirrors caused neck pain, dizziness, and nausea. Less than 800,000 copies of the device were sold.
But that was all in the distant past by the time Lucky reached his teenage years. Out of curiosity, he did an «archaeological dig» on eBay and amassed a respectable collection of obsolete virtual reality devices.
He once managed to buy a helmet that once sold for $9.7,000, for only $87. In order to save up money to replenish the collection, Palmer mastered electronics a little. He bought broken iPhones, repaired them and sold them for much more. So he earned $30,000.
Unsuccessful old models became the basis for new developments.
“I seriously modified these devices, put new optical systems, rearranged optics,” says Lucky. “So I made some new freaks.”
As time went on, his experiments began to make more sense. In 200917-year-old Palmer went to university — he decided not to leave home and went to California State University at Long Beach, unexpectedly choosing journalism as a major. Lucky devoted all his free time to the creation of PR1, or the First Prototype.
In the summer of 2011, he took a part-time job with virtual reality pioneer Mark Bolas at his lab at the University of Southern California.
“Without Mark, there would be no Oculus,” says Jaron Lanier, the information technology specialist who coined the term “virtual reality.” Bolas and his students have worked for many years to improve virtual reality helmets, and all their achievements were in the public domain. Lucky absorbed the accumulated knowledge and technologies and was able to quickly apply them in his own work.
In April 2012, 19-year-old Palmer completed the sixth prototype of his home VR headset. He called it the Rift («Crack»), referring to the gap between the real and the virtual world, a bridge over which he hoped to build.
Just a few years ago, Lucky would not have been able to achieve such success, because almost every trend in the startup world of the last decade came in handy when creating Oculus. The use of open technologies allowed him to bring the development almost to the end without royalties.
Crowdsourcing also came in handy: enthusiasts from forums like MTBS3D and Meant to Be Seen in 3-D helped to improve the prototypes (Lucky himself often helped others solve technical problems too).
For at least one of the forum participants, virtual reality devices were not just a hobby. John Carmack, one of the founders of id Software, became famous as the lead developer of the legendary Quake and Doom. In April 2012, he came to the forum asking for help in finalizing the Sony head-mounted display. Lucky recalls: «We had a public argument about why it would be very difficult to do… and a week later he sent me a private message asking if he could buy or borrow one of my prototypes.»
Lucky sent one of his Rifts to Carmack. Three months later, at the E3 video game show in Los Angeles, he showed a demo of Doom 3 using this device and loudly praised the helmet.
The news of the news spread quickly. Brendan Iribe, who was then the director of product at cloud game distribution company Gaikai, met with Lucky to try out the device and was so impressed that he immediately offered to invest in the project. In July 2012, Oculus VR was born with an initial capital of several hundred thousand dollars from Airiba’s pocket.
Lucky didn’t have enough money to develop a new version of the prototype, so he resorted to another new strategy: crowdfunding. Palmer launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise $250,000. He believed that only VR enthusiasts would invest in the venture: “If I were an investor, would I be investing in such a product, given the monstrous failures of similar devices in the past?”
The result was one of the most successful and controversial fundraising campaigns in the history of crowdfunding. Lucky promised anyone who paid at least $300, his own prototype Rift, so that he could start developing software for this platform.
At the same time, he did not offer participation in the share capital (the sale of shares under the crowdfunding scheme was then still illegal). Lucky raised capital and built the Rift ecosystem without diluting his stake in the company.
The milestone of $250,000 was reached in less than two hours. On the first day of the fundraiser, Lucky was in Dallas at QuakeCon, an annual gathering for video game enthusiasts, where he demonstrated the capabilities of the device. “We had no sign, just a black table,” Palmer recalls. “And a two-hour line stretched to our booth both days.”
Then I realized, “Oh, this is going to be something big. Ordinary people are interested in virtual reality, not just us sci-fi freaks.»
In a month, Lucky raised $2.4 million from 9,522 backers, many of whom were furious after selling Facebook.
But it didn’t matter anymore — virtual reality had finally become a real business. Lucky quickly realized that he would not make a good leader of the company. First investor Brendan Iribe became CEO. John Carmack, who most contributed to the popularity of the project, took over as CTO (Carmack’s former employer ZeniMax sued Oculus, accusing Carmack of using proprietary information from ZeniMax; Oculus denies the allegations). Lucky remained just a «founder» and, in addition, became a kind of official representative of virtual reality in the public space.
All this hype turned Palmer and his invention into superstars. At trade shows and festivals from South by Southwest to the Game Developers Conference, people waited in line for hours to take a short trip through the virtual space. Venture capitalists became interested in the company.
In June 2013, Oculus closed a $16 million first round led by Spark Capital and Matrix Partners, based on a $30 million preliminary valuation. Six months later, Andreessen Horowitz led a second round of fundraising at a $300 million valuation.
“The dream of virtual reality has been around for so long that many are tired of waiting,” explains Andreessen Horowitz partner Chris Dixon. “When we first met Palmer, we saw that he not only continues to believe in this dream, but also understands what technologies will make it a reality.”
The 21-year-old inventor’s $300 million estimate for the prototype may seem unreasonably high. But less than a year later, it turned out to be a brilliant investment. Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg contacted Lucky in his favorite way — by sending him an email — and the two geeks discovered that they had quite a few common interests in technology and science fiction.
In January 2014, Zuckerberg came to the Oculus office to try out the Rift.
“We started talking to Zuckerberg because we wanted to show our product,” Lucky recalls. “He is a big fan of virtual reality and I think he shares our vision that in the future everyone will use this technology.” Zuckerberg announced to Lucky and Airibu that they opened a new chapter in the history of computers — a fundamentally different way of communicating, and not just a new path to Facebook.
Over the course of two months, the parties prepared a deal that ended up costing $2 billion: $400 million in cash upfront, Facebook shares for the rest, and another $300 million to grow the company. Lucky was fascinated by Facebook’s faith in his project and the new financial scale.
“Let’s say we’re going to sell a million devices,” Luckey says.
“That means having several hundred million dollars in cash just for production.”
The deal with Facebook made Lucky rich. Forbes estimates that he owned about 25% of Oculus VR, which brought him half a billion dollars, which by now should have grown to $600 million with the rapid growth of Facebook shares — and Palmer still continues to fine-tune his prototype.
If success has turned Lucky’s head, he doesn’t show it. The young capitalist continues to live in the fashionable town of Atherton with seven friends (all but one work for Oculus) in a shared home he calls Commune. There, they host multiplayer video game tournaments like Super Smash Bros. for hours. Palmer usually wears cargo-style shorts, tank tops, or Hawaiian shirts, and rarely wears shoes; even when he puts on sandals, they constantly fall off his feet. The only sign of wealth that has fallen on him is a brand new Tesla Model S.
However, the Oculus founder sometimes drives a GMC 19 minibus’86 with a red shaggy carpet.
“I think you can buy a Tesla and not be too hard on yourself,” Lucky shrugs.
The Commune is just one town from Facebook’s headquarters in Menlo Park, where he sits with the engineers, in no way distinguishable from them. “A lot of people here know everything about Oculus, but they don’t know who I am,” says Palmer.
As with other major takeovers — Instagram and WhatsApp — Zuckerberg gave Lucky and his team ample autonomy. Facebook provides administrative support, financial and other resources, and allows Lucky and his staff to run their own business. «We’re doing what we wanted to do, it’s just that we’ve got more options now,» says Lucky, who splits his work hours between Menlo Park and Oculus headquarters in Irvine, an hour south of Los Angeles.
He has been on the road for most of the last few months. Lucky does research and hires developers: «Truly leading people is a talent I don’t have, but I’m good at picking people to work with me.» But his main task is to promote his offspring. Although Palmer didn’t manage to go from a talented techie to a corporate CEO like Bill Gates and Zuckerberg, this son of a car salesman instinctively knows how to put on a show better than any of them. At the first Forbes Business Stars Under 30 Summit in Philadelphia in October 2014, Lucky captivated 1,500 of America’s top young entrepreneurs with his jokes, funny gestures (at one point he even pretended to be a kung fu fighter), and effervescent responses.
When asked about the thousands of people who backed a crowdfunding company and received none of the $2 billion, he immediately spoke of the folly of over-regulation.
«No one cares about the person, right?» he finished, and the audience burst out laughing.
After that, instead of leaving the stage on the stairs, Lucky, dressed in a Hawaiian shirt, jumped off the 1.5-meter platform like a real gymnast.
Lucky is now facing the most important performance of his career. While the company is working on less significant overclocking products — in December, Samsung released a virtual reality glasses developed in collaboration with Oculus for $ 19.9 that connects to a Galaxy smartphone — Lucky remains silent on the release date of the full-fledged consumer version of the Rift. Sources close to the company are talking about a market launch during 2015 and expectations are very high. Although Zuckerberg warns that it could take a decade to reach critical mass, he publicly stated in October that Rift «needs a very broad audience, between 50 million and 100 million users» to realize his vision of a new computing platform.
Program development is active. First of all, these are games. “Gamers are the first to embrace anything new,” Lucky says. “And it’s the only industry that is ready to create immersive 3D worlds.” In June, Microsoft is expected to release an Xbox One compatible device. In March, Sony announced that it was developing its own VR headset, codenamed Project Morpheus, for the PlayStation 4.
The entertainment industry will be joining soon. In October, director Danfung Dennis released Zero Point, a featurette exclusively for viewing on the Oculus Rift. Laguna Beach, California-based NextVR just released a virtual version of Coldplay’s concert, and EON Sports is preparing a VR exercise program featuring American football legend Mike Ditka. There is even a Spanish startup, VirtualRealPorn, that sells a subscription site to a Rift-compatible 3D video site, promising users a “extra-presence” experience.
Finally, there is a lot of development going on outside the entertainment world. Engineers at Ford’s Virtual Reality Lab use the Rift to view 3D models of the cars they’re designing. Marriott hotels are offering city tours using Rift-based «virtual travel technology» that can take potential customers to a Hawaiian beach or downtown London. The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is using the helmet as a means of virtualizing computer networks to combat cyberattacks, a project that finally brings to life the old sci-fi movies of old sci-fi movies of fully immersed 3D video game console cowboys.
With such rapid growth, it’s no surprise that Rift will have many competitors vying for its place as the standard virtualization hardware solution. German optical systems manufacturer Carl Zeiss AG released the Zeiss VR One in December. Google, which has so far shown more interest in augmented reality technologies that combine computer displays and the real world, as in Google Glasses, announced last summer that it was working on a new Google Cardboard project — these will be cheap virtual reality devices based on free technology that users will be able to collect themselves.
In October, Google led a $542 million round of funding from Florida-based startup Magic Leap, which is developing its own lightweight VR headset to compete with the Rift. Finally, Apple recently advertised for an engineer who will «develop high-performance applications that integrate with VR systems for prototyping and testing.»
Lucky just shrugs in response.
“I don’t think there are comparable products today,” he says. And this is not an empty boast.
Rift’s latest prototype, codenamed Crescent Bay, delivers a truly immersive experience that feels like you’re in another place. In the demo scene developed by Epic Games, a team of armed soldiers fight a huge robot. In it you can wander through chaos, dodge bullets frozen in flight, as if in the movie «The Matrix», raising your head, you can see how the car is turning over above you, you can go around one of the soldiers and inspect his weapon, or even bend down and look through the scope his rifles.
