Google has removed all listings for Cardboard VR headsets, the last bastion of its early VR efforts, from the Google Store.
The Google Cardboard product page now redirects to the Google Store homepage and displays a message that “the page you are looking for is not available, you have been redirected.”
Both Google Cardboard and Daydream View were early efforts from Google to break into the smartphone VR space. In the same vein as Gear VR, these headsets allowed you to put a mobile phone into a headset shell and experience rudimentary 3DOF virtual reality. Cardboard was on the decidedly lower end of the scale given that, as the name suggests, the headset was made out of folded card.
Google Cardboard was compatible with many different smartphones, whereas Daydream supported Google Pixel devices specifically. In 2019, Google confirmed that its then-newest flagship phone, the Pixel 4, would not support Daydream and that Daydream View headsets would no longer be available for purchase. At the time, Jamie Feltham wrote that Daydream’s death didn’t mark the end of the VR dream, but a sign that it was just growing up.
A month later, Google announced that it would also be open-sourcing the software behind the Cardboard platform in the hopes that third-party developers could continue to support the platform. Previously, Google had also released manufacturing specifications for the cardboard headset with the same intention — so that third party manufacturers could produce their own units and encourage wide support.
Up until recently, Google continued to sell its official Cardboard headsets on the Google Store, likely just to get rid of leftover stock. However, with the listings now gone, Google has officially ended all support for hardware and software of its Daydream and Cardboard VR platforms.
