An upcoming Oculus Quest update will let you play Oculus Rift games on Oculus Quest.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg confirmed this at Oculus Connect 6 today. This is possible through a new feature called Oculus Link, that will be shipping in November. It will allow you to play Rift games on your Quest, provided it’s linked up via a USB-C cable.
Zuckerberg said the system works with “most USB-C cables” that are out there, however Facebook will be offering “a premium optical fiber cable to provide a best-in-class experience with maximum throughput and comfortable ergonomics”.
This is huge news for not only Oculus Quest owners, but developers making apps for Rift too. Quest is a standalone headset, meaning it has all the tech needed to get started in VR built-in already. Rift, meanwhile, is a tethered PC headset that runs experiences from a PC. Since launching in May, however, Quest has said to have sold very well, with plenty of VR developers reporting lots of success with the device.
Opening up Rift apps to Quest expands the potential audience developers can reach. Of course, it means Quest owners will need to buy a high-powered PC, the omission of which was Quest’s main selling point. With this update, though, you could play a high fidelity version of, say, Apex Construct, then unplug your Quest, take it elsewhere and play the portable version with scaled-down graphics but no wire.
Quest and Rift S share the same controllers, so that shouldn’t be an issue in terms of conversion. The only real difference between the two headsets is that Rift S has an extra tracking camera for more solid inside-out positional tracking. Still, Quest runs many of the same games Rift does with perfectly comparable tracking. Save for perhaps a few apps, this likely won’t be an issue for many VR owners.
We’re on the ground at OC6 and will be bringing you updates around the clock.
