Facebook’s new VR headsets are already seeing impressive retention, according to John Carmack.
During his keynote speech at Oculus Connect 6 today, Carmack announced that Oculus Quest is “by far” Facebook’s most retentive hardware. The Oculus Rift S, however, has already surpassed the original Rift in terms of retention.
Retention on a VR headset would basically mean how often owners keep using their devices. In other words, people that buy Quest or using it more than, say someone that buys a Rift or Oculus Go. It’s an enticing bit of info, though perhaps not surprising on the Quest front given the success developers are having on the standalone headset. Still, for an Oculus headset to achieve that statistic five months after launch and stacked up against three other devices with years-long lead time is impressive.
As for Rift S, Carmack said the increase in retention was “not nearly” as much as the increase in retention from Gear VR to Oculus Go, but it still sounds impressive. Rift S replaced the original Rift this year, adding in inside-out tracking and improved ergonomics.
It’s positive news for the new wave of Oculus headsets, then. The interesting question is how that retention will evolve in the next 12 months. Yesterday, Facebook announced Oculus Link, which lets you play Rift games on your Quest when connected to a PC with a USB-C cable. The news has quickly thrown the question of what purpose the Rift S now serves into the spotlight.
We’re at Oculus Connect 6 ourselves, so be sure to be on the lookout for the latest headlines.
