vox populi : The Meta Quest headsets have been a revelation for the VR industry .
Thanks to the Quest ’s all - in - one intent and affordable Mary Leontyne Price ( at least compared to other VR headset ) , it ’s become the most popular VR headset by a sizable margin .
Steam ’s hardware sketch suggeststhat a humongous 41 % of VR players were using aMeta Quest 2to access SteamVR during November 2022 . And when you consider that most Meta Quest owners in all likelihood wo n’t bother connecting the headset to a PC to apply SteamVR , it express the extent to which Meta is dominating the VR market .
Of naturally , Meta has n’t been without its rival . Both HTC Vive and Valve have headsets of their own but have direct VR enthusiasts with high - end spec . And while HTC has attempted to create a VR headset for the mass market , theVive CosmosandFlowhave fail to hit that sweet smirch between performance and wireless freedom .
As a result , Meta has n’t seen a serious competitor since the Oculus Quest launched back in 2019 . However , that could be about to change .
This week , I published my reappraisal of a new VR headset called thePico 4 . I was implausibly impressed by the new all - in - one headset , offering a similar experience to the Meta Quest 2 since it does n’t need a separate equipment to work and utilize the exact same Qualcomm XR2 chipping .
The Pico 4 actually stand out the Meta Quest 2 in several areas . It has a higher screen resolution , light design and features colour passthrough so you easy locate your controllers while wearing the headset .
unluckily , the substandard game program library prevents the Pico 4 from becoming a better option than the Meta Quest . Meta has been busy acquiring various VR game studios to gain an edge over competitor . As a upshot , Meta has sole right to Beat Saber , Iron Man VR , Lone Echo and Resident Evil 4 .
The Pico 4 is missing plenty of other splendid VR games too , including Among Us , Moss : Book II and Tetris Effect : plug in . Fortunately , this is an issue that Pico should be able to regenerate in time . Not many fellowship can go toe to toe with Meta in terms of securing exclusive plot , but there ’s no doubtfulness that Pico has the fiscal sinew to contend .
While it may be the case you ’ve never get a line of Pico before , it ’s certainly not a small start - up company any longer . In 2021 , it was acquired by Taiwanese fellowship ByteDance , which also owns the societal media platform TikTok .
With the financial championship of ByteDance behind Pico , it ’s certainly possible that it will set about investing in VR secret plan studios too , or even copying Meta ’s tactics by learn exist studios . By doing so , the Pico 4 would abruptly be on level hoof it with the Meta Quest .
While Meta will be no doubt interested about this , it ’s outstanding newsworthiness for consumers . Increased challenger is already good news , as it incentivises foundation . Why would Meta bother investing in substantial upgrades for the Quest range if it did n’t have any rivals ?
With that in mind , it ’s great to see the Pico 4 enter the ring as a tearing competitor . It will take time for the Pico to benefit traction and become as recognisable as Meta . But with the Pico 4 becoming the fastest growing VR headset on SteamVR in November ( reported byUploadVR ) it ’s certainly heading in the right direction .
Ctrl+Alt+Delete is our hebdomadary computing - focussed opinion column where we delve deeper into the world of computers , laptops , components , peripherals and more . Find it on confide Reviews every Saturday afternoon .
