Oculus Quest 120Hz support could start rolling out in March on an experimental basis, a new roadmap suggests.
Facebook’s official Quest platform roadmap, which is only accessible to those with a developer account has tentatively scheduled the feature to arrive this month. That said, the roadmap only lists Oculus engineers’ confidence in meeting that time-frame as ‘Medium’, so it could well slip into April. Obviously this would only be relevant to Oculus Quest 2, not the original headset which has a max refresh rate of 72Hz.
Oculus Quest 120Hz Support Nears Release
The roadmap also clarifies that 120Hz support will be purely experimental to start out. That means that, as with other experimental features like the recent addition of a virtual couch, users will have to opt into it. As the roadmap explains: “The feature will happen in two parts – API support for devs, Experimental Settings toggle to enable 120Hz and user being able to toggle 120Hz for supported apps.”
Andrew Bosworth, VP of VR and AR at Facebook, hinted that Quest 2 could get 120Hz support a few weeks back. We didn’t, however, think the feature would be this close to possible release.
Refresh rates are crucial to the VR experience, as higher refresh rates will make virtual worlds appear smoother as you explore. Quest 2 already improves on the original Quest, allowing developers to jump from 72Hz to 90Hz. Bear in mind that hitting a 120Hz refresh rate will put extra demand on VR experiences, and developers that do support the feature may have to make sacrifices to visuals and other areas. That said, it could be very beneficial to some of Quest’s built-in features, like the home environment and Oculus browser.
Elsewhere, the roadmap also points to improvements to Quest’s keyboard overlay in March, including features like predictive text and the option to switch to voice dictation.
120Hz might sound ambitious for Quest 2 but, in another recent Q&A, Bosworth winked at the mention of a potential Oculus Quest Pro. Could such a device perhaps implement broader support for 120Hz?
Are you looking forward to Oculus Quest 120Hz support? Let us know in the comments below!