John Carmack made some comments on Twitter indicating new features are on the way for Oculus Browser in the new year, and that Facebook is “serious about making it a viable work platform.”
The comments came in response to a Twitter user who was running Wolfenstein 3D on Oculus Browser (by using a DOS emulator) on a Quest, which Carmack replied to. Here’s what he had to say (emphasis is our own):
“If the Oculus Browser dies under your torture, @jacobrossi is the PM to fix it. There are a lot of good things coming to the browser next year — we are serious about making it a viable work platform.“
We already know that Infinite Office is coming to the Quest 2 as an extension to Oculus Browser, offering an adjustable passthrough and Logitech wireless keyboard integration. This no doubt will significantly improve the Quest’s remote work capabilities, however that was already scheduled for a release this winter.
Given Carmack’s point about features specifically coming next year, it could be that Infinite Office has been delayed slightly and pushed back to 2021. Alternatively, Carmack may be referring to even more unannounced features that are in development.
Earlier in the year at Facebook Connect, Carmack noted in his unscripted annual keynote that he was ‘embarrassed‘ about Facebook’s social VR offering on Quest over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Following on from these comments and his new ones about new features coming to Oculus Browser, it seems Carmack is keen to expand the Quest’s native social and remote work features over the next year.
