Xbox boss Phil Spencer has once again shot down any hopes for an Xbox VR headset in the near future, but hasn’t ruled out Xbox software appearing on other headsets.
Appearing on the latest episode of the Kinda Funny Gamescast, Spencer said that Microsoft didn’t really have any plans for “bespoke accessories” like VR or AR headsets in the near future.
“As it relates to VR specifically, the best experience that I’ve seen is Quest 2. And I just think its untethered ease of use in its capability just doesn’t to me require it being connected to an Xbox in any way,” Spencer said. “So when I look at a scenario like that, I think of XCloud, I think of the Xbox Live community, I think of other things of how could we bring content to a screen like that.
“Whether we do something like that through first-party or third-party partnerships is kind of a second step to do we think the games that we currently have that we’re able to run on our platform would work there.”
Microsoft has played down chances of an Xbox VR headset on numerous occasions over the past few years, despite once saying its Xbox One X console was capable of “high fidelity VR”. But Spencer’s comments about software are interesting – Microsoft has explored bringing Xbox apps and IP to other headsets in the past – the Oculus Rift had an app to stream Xbox One games to a virtual screen and Windows’ own Mixed Reality headsets featured an exclusive Halo minigame.
But his mention of Xcloud here specifically is intriguing; could there be some appeal to using Quest 2 as another destination for Games Pass streaming? As Sony prepares to launch a VR headset for PS5, that could give Xbox some small way to remain in the conversation.
