Neither the HTC Vive Pro 2 nor the Vive Focus 3 feature integrated eye-tracking, but support will apparently come via an add-on device in the future.
As announced by Vive China President Alvin Wang Graylin, both headsets will be compatible with the new Droolon F2 Eye-Tracking module that’s set to ship later this year. You may have heard that name before – in 2019 we reported that the first generation of the device, created by Chinese startup 7invensun, would support the Vive Cosmos.
Vive Pro 2 And Focus 3 Eye-Tracking Confirmed (Kind Of)
Don’t hold your breath for a big western launch, though. Both the Droolon F1 and even the add-on the company made for the original Vive in 2017 were promised as worldwide releases but we never really saw them reach North America or Europe in a meaningful way. HTC itself didn’t mention the device in any of our pre-briefings, so we’re not likely to see the kit make a big splash in the west.
That said the device does have US pricing – Droolen F2 is shipping in Q3 for $299. That’s double the price of the F1.
It’s curious that Vive Pro 2 itself doesn’t have integrated eye-tracking given that the previous version of the device, the Vive Pro Eye, did. Eye-tracking has several uses for VR headsets, including foveated rendering that can improve performance by only fully rendering the part of the display you’re directly looking at. That said, it’s also true that there’s little in the way of consumer-level software that integrates the feature right now.
On Monday, we reported that the new PlayStation 5 VR headset will have its own form of gaze tracking with foveated rendering. There’s also speculation a possible Quest Pro device could integrate the feature too.
