After setting an initial launch date of December 19 for the Oculus Quest version of VR FPS Pavlov, developer Dave Villz announced today that the Quest version is delayed until 2020.
Pavlov: Shack (final title) is delayed for early next year, our core party/friend support failed to run on android. However we are still optimizing and polishing for the 19th for a soft launch via sideload. 🙈
— davevillz (@davevillz) December 10, 2019
It was only just over a month ago that the December 19 release was set for ‘Pavlov Lite’ on Quest. However, due to “core party/friend support” problems on Android, the game has now been pushed back.
There is currently no exact revised release date except for “early next year.” The Quest version has also been retitled from the previous ‘Pavlov Lite’ to ‘Pavlov Shack’, which Villz (perhaps jokingly) pointed out is a tongue-in-cheek reference to the Quest game being a downgraded version of the main game, which references Pavlov’s House.
The Quest version of the game will be free, unlike the paid PC VR version. Previously, it was not going to support custom servers and maps like the PC VR version. However, in some screenshots posted to Reddit, it seems that Villz confirmed that the delay will give him time to add custom servers and maps to Pavlov Shack.
Pavlov’s closest competitor, Onward, is also coming to Oculus Quest but no date is set yet. The Quest version of Onward will reportedly be the full version of the game complete with custom map support and cross-play with both Oculus Rift on Home and SteamVR headsets.
Regardless, a ‘soft launch’ is still planned for Pavlov Shack on the 19th of December, available via sideloading. While we previously questioned whether Pavlov Shack would launch on the Oculus Store or via SideQuest or sideloading, it seems that the implication now is that the soft launch is via sideloading and the full launch in 2020 will be on the Oculus Store. We previously reached out to Villz to clarify whether the Quest version would be releasing through the official Oculus Store, but did not receive a response at the time.
