Earlier this week Facebook announced it would soon introduce two of Oculus Quest’s most-requested features: multiple accounts on the same device and game sharing across that device.
It’s a big deal for the platform, letting friends and families keep their progress, friends and other features separate from others. Combined with the recent addition of gifting on the Oculus Quest store, it makes the platform better to use. But there’s still a lot of things Quest and Quest 2 still needs to get right.
No, I’m not talking about the same old hardware specs or game wishlists – I’m talking about the list of crucial software and platform features that are either half-baked or just completely missing from the Quest experience. Here’s hoping Facebook has these things on its checklist.
Better In-VR Discovery
The Oculus Store on browser and app is actually pretty great. It makes it easy to quickly discover new releases, search for upcoming games and even view an alphabetical list of every app released on Quest thus far. But the story isn’t quite the same inside the headset itself.
Click on ‘Store’ in Oculus Home and you’ll essentially be rolling the dice on what apps the headset will show you. There’s a number of categories to scroll through, but they’re largely all driven by what you’ve played before. There’s no way to quickly find new releases, browse all titles or pre-order upcoming games. On-device shopping is a pivotal means of discovering new content, and Quest does developers a disservice making new games so hard to find.
Better Media Sharing
Sharing your screenshots & videos on the first Oculus Quest was so convoluted we couldn’t possibly imagine a second headset launching without drastic improvements. But Quest 2 still makes us jump through infuriating loops to share our VR content, and often doesn’t even capture that content right.
Somehow, nearly two years on from Quest 1’s launch, recorded videos still go out of sync with audio on a regular basis and won’t record in 1080p. And when you do want to share content you have the option of either uploading to Facebook in-headset, or having to plug it into a PC via USB and grab it through SideQuest. You can also get 1080p content… again using SideQuest hacks. It’s painfully inaccessible – Quest should offer a broader range of sharing options from an easy access point, like the Oculus app. For now, you can check out our guide on uploading screenshots and videos to PC right here.
A Social Oculus Home
You ever notice how many of the items in the standard Quest 2 home environment come in twos? Two swinging chairs, couches, etc. It begs the question; why can’t we share that space with someone else? Oculus Quest has decent party invitation systems etc to get you from game-to-game with your friends, but it’s a big shame you can’t share any between-app downtime in your personal spaces together.
Facebook might argue that you should be doing that in, say, Venues or the upcoming Horizon, but the fastest means of meeting friends in VR should surely be the first world you boot up. Think of something like Rift’s Home features on Quest – maybe also introduce some simple boardgames etc (shout out to Rooms!) and you’re a good way there.
That’s our list of things Oculus Quest still needs to get right. What features do you think are still missing? Let us know in the comments below!
