Oculus is partnering with Xiaomi for Oculus Go while helping the Chinese company launch a cousin to the low cost standalone headset that doesn’t have the Oculus Store or Oculus Home.
Facebook, which purchased Oculus in 2014 for roughly $3 billion, is blocked in China and the Oculus Rift isn’t sold there. So this looks like the social media giant is abandoning the Chinese market when it comes to trying to roll out its fledgling VR software store globally, at least for now. The company, however, is still providing technology to Xiaomi for its upcoming Mi VR Standalone powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 821.
“We’re focused on working with Xiaomi to bring a high quality VR experience to the Chinese market via Mi VR Standalone,” an Oculus spokesperson wrote in an email.
Oculus Go also uses the same Qualcomm chip at its core and Mi VR has the same “core” hardware features and design as the Facebook headset. The Xiaomi headset even supports the Oculus Mobile SDK, so it will be easy for developers to port their content to Xiaomi’s platform. The Chinese company is working with some popular apps to localize content for that market.
The Mi VR Standalone is also said to include “integrated spatial audio technology developed by Oculus,” according to a press release.
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