A Revolution In The VR Industry? Does A Gamer Need An Apple Vision Pro

On February 2, 2024, the Apple Vision Pro headset saw the light. Regardless of your personal attitude towards Apple, it is worth recognizing the main thing — its first experience in the niche of virtual reality is so loud that everyone will go exactly where Tim Cook will lead, even though the pioneers of VR have long done more and better than Apple.

And The Thunder Broke

This is not a review but an attempt to analyze the phenomenon that Apple has now staged out of the blue. The phenomenon is not just a red word — it is the essence of what Vision Pro is from his presentation to the possibilities. Despite the fact that Apple is doing its best to distance itself from the term Mixed Reality (MR), calling its device an "innovative spatial computer," it is still the same mixed reality headset. 

When Apple presented the fruit of many years of development to the world in the summer of 2023, only the lazy did not kick it. And there were, in fact, only two questions: "Who is this for?" and "Why is it so expensive?" No matter how many videos you watch, it feels like it was a banal Internet content viewer for wild thousands of dollars, with, literally, neutered functions. In addition, complete with an incomprehensible "catheter," — only a lazy person did not joke about a remote battery weighing about 300 grams and with a capacity of 1.5-2 hours. 

For every word Tim Cook said about the breakthrough, experienced users of the VR niche scribbled 10 theses, completely destroying the loud advertising texts of the head of the corporation. Innovative screens on MicroLED? I have them, shouted the owners of the 127-gram VR headset BigScreen. 

Unique technologies that transform your room into incredible VR worlds with the ability to organize your workspace as your heart desires? "Hold my beer!" said the owners of Pico 4 and future owners of Quest 3. 

You don't need controllers. Your hands are the best manipulators, and this is a unique technology. Yes, it is unique, since 2019… VR enthusiasts were joking. 

And you can't just buy Vision Pro. Before buying, the face is scanned, and the necessary accessories are selected for the unique structure of the skull. And those familiar with VR headsets dubbed the Apple device extremely inconvenient due to the mounting design. 

When the Meta device entered the market* Quest 3, it turned out that the helmet could do all the same things. But what Quest 3 does, Apple Vision Pro cannot do even with the help of the most inventive minds of the corporation.

Nevertheless, the entire interactive entertainment industry was waiting for the release of this headset to witness Apple's first, much-desired, and deafening failure in many years. It was clear even to an inexperienced consumer that Apple had climbed into a place where it had no idea how business was conducted and what the audience of this niche wanted. But Yablochniki wouldn't be themselves if they didn't follow what the target audience wanted. No, friends! Apple is the kind of company that makes you think you want what it sells. And Vision Pro is a clear proof of this rule.

The Big Lie

On January 19th, pre-orders opened — people bought a total of about 200 thousand pieces of Apple Vision Pro in a matter of hours. Everyone was looking forward to Day X when the device would go on official sale. It came out, and reviews went out. And all the things that experts and ordinary VR users joked and ironized about turned out to be ... true.

Based on the reviews and opinions of experienced VR users, the Vision Pro is an incredibly beautiful device. Chic and glitter rule the score here: seamless aluminum, premium fabric materials, glass on the front panel, and a podium box. If Apple says that it has achieved a 1% carbon footprint in its products, then this is definitely not about Vision Pro — there is a solid package in the package. And this is the most competent move that the company could make. 

You, as a consumer, spend a huge amount of money, and it's not clear what or why. And your purchase should literally shout that you are doing well. Apple knows perfectly well that your acquaintance and love for the device begins with the box. In the case of Vision Pro, this is a triumph of this idea. 

Everything has been done in the packaging so that you do not doubt that you will soon have real technology from the future in your hands. If it weren't for the packaging, users would quickly realize that they had bought anything but the "future." Because, in fact, Vision Pro is a heavy, inconvenient, and catastrophically NON-autonomous device. The remote battery is a trick, not to make a headset that weighs 1 kilogram but to find a compromise in the balance.

But a portable "catheter" is the least of Vision Pro's problems. From the reviews, it becomes clear that this is a limited device, clearly unfinished from an engineering point of view. 

On the one hand, it is difficult to accuse Apple of lying. Vision Pro offers everything that was shown in the presentation video - this is a banal mixed reality headset with which, at the moment, there is not much you can do at all: watch a movie, look through photos, and project the screens of your devices from the Apple ecosystem. 

Of course, Vision Pro has unique features, such as the technology of scanned 3D avatars during video calls. What Mark Zuckerberg dreamed of, showing visionary renderings, Apple has done. And it turned out even better somewhere. Is this a revolution? Maybe. But is the opportunity to use FaceTime without removing the helmet worth $3,500? The most important question is, will you use it on a regular basis? 

The answer is, of course, not. Vision Pro today has the best system for tracking eyes and hands in space, and thanks to the depth sensor, hands are also cut out of 3D space, superimposed on virtual windows - the same Quest 3 is deprived of this. If eye and hand tracking work like clockwork, then cropping hands along the contour is not just crude but clearly unfinished at a basic level. And even such things don't cost $3,500 because all this is already in the Quest Pro helmet for $1,000.

The main problem of the helmet is physics, which cannot be deceived. When a helmet weighing 600+ grams is distributed it over the user's face, he needs a supporting strap over his head. This distributes the weight all over the head rather than hanging on the cheekbones and forehead. However, such fasteners look poor and uninspired, and they do not allow them to stand out effectively from the rest of their niche counterparts. 

That is why, until the release of the headset, no one knew that there was also a second classic mount for the Vission Pro, with which everyone would use it. But Apple itself knew about it. She also understood that the headset would be criticized for its weight and poor ergonomics more than its limitations in use. Therefore, the corporation, which earns a lot of money, including on accessories, put a second classic mount in the kit, even the basic version. Magic evaporates less when a lifebuoy is at hand and even in the kit. 

And the cherry on the smelly cake is the autonomy of the headset. The helmet, which is positioned as an advanced solution for everyday wear and blurring the boundaries between the screen and the eyes, gives a total of about ... 2 hours of battery life. And this is without any complicated graphic frills.

This is just one of Vision Pro's flaws and significant problems. And it makes sense to talk about them only when you see from personal experience, which, for obvious reasons, has not been possible so far. However, all these mistakes did not prevent the corporation from setting trends again and involving millions of eyes in the niche.

Trendsetter

As mentioned above, regardless of how you feel about Apple, over the past 20 years, it has done exactly two things first-class:

- Made consumers believe that you needed their products;
- Forced competitors to copy.

Pay attention. All the guesses and skepticism of people who are fond of VR and AR technologies have been confirmed. And even many things are made much worse than what we were shown in commercials. Did it stop Apple? 

Not at all. Think about what kind of hype was on the Internet when Quest 3 was released for a fairly modest (by VR standards) $499. The most advanced MR headset on the market to this day offers a radically new level of interaction with the real environment, where the best VR games are, in principle, Asgard's Wrath 2. And they also allow you to use it as a wireless PC helmet! The answer is obvious. Practically zero. To put it mildly, no one cared. Did hype give PSVR2? Few noticed him, even among fans of the Sony platform. 

And look at what the castrated and absurdly expensive Vission Pro is doing to the information field right now. The hype and howl is so deafening that news sites even write about the headset on the front pages. Apple did from the first time what the Valve-Oculus-Playstation trinity once tried back in 2016 and continues to this day. Even Microsoft's innovative technology of tracking by the helmet itself did not allow this direction to go beyond the well-off enthusiasts and go to the people because the most advanced VR kit from HTC/Valve costs a little less than the Vision Pro.

Take a closer look at the Vision Pro — it's not a device for gaming. At the moment, it is generally difficult to say what or who it is for. But everyone is talking about it — Vision Pro is the hottest new product of winter 2024. Quite possibly the whole year in general. 

Yes, you can safely say: "Well, guys, this is Apple!". And it's true — the corporation has achieved in 20 years that if it releases a new device, then everyone is trumpeting about it and from all the cracks. But it's not an iPhone, and it's an essential device. This is an insanely expensive device, the use of which even Apple employees find it difficult to name — and it is now rattling. 

There is exactly one reason here — Apple marketers know how to make a sensation out of nothing. Because the staff of the corporation employs advertisers from God, whose analogs no one else has, they can, literally, sell. To make you think that you really need it. Regardless of the price. 

What does this mean for the VR industry as a whole? People are talking about VR now in a way that no one has ever talked about before — the niche is already gaining its third birth. Industry enthusiasts treated Vision Pro with a lot of ridicule, expecting a resounding failure. But they were waiting for his release, at the same time, with hope. If anyone can restart global interest and, first of all, investment, it's Apple. 

But here lies the main danger for the entire niche. Since everyone has been copying Apple's success for the last 20 years and doing the same thing, only two or even three times cheaper, a dangerous trend may occur. The same Meta* session corporation can look at the success of the Apple headset, which is as limited as possible, and think: "Why should we pour tons of money into developing and inventing bicycles when everything has already been invented? We are doing the same thing, only cheaper and building up the base." 

We can say that a year ago, Mark Zuckerberg's corporation tried to break down this wall by abandoning the gaming direction — by going into the business segment. The corporation was in for a resounding failure and tens of billions in losses. But that was before the release of Vision Pro, and then absolutely no one needed it. And now the masses need it. 

Will Quest lose its 25 million user army? It is quite possible. But what is a quarter of a hundred million when in the future you can take over, literally, a quarter or a half billion, which will not also be demanding? In a world where people want Vision Pro but are not able to afford it because of the absurd price, Meta* corporation will deftly lend a shoulder with offers from 500 to 1000 dollars. And this path was already passed back in 2008 when everyone rushed to copy the iPhone, which led the mobile phone market to what it is now. Unified touch twins.
A Dangerous Outcome
What is the possible future trouble for VR users today? The fact is that the whole direction of VR and AR will follow the path that Apple has chosen. Games are a niche class, and VR will not be for gamers. It will be an everyday solution at the smartwatch level. Watch a huge TV, stick YouTube to your head while cooking or cleaning, and do other trivial things that will bring VR to the level of an ordinary household organizer. 

Perhaps a deafening boom in the industry awaits us. Perhaps the niche needed this leap, made by an IT industry giant who knows how to sell everything. And Nisha will go where Cupertino tells her to go. And this means no Half-Life Alyx, Resident Evil 4, and Village VR, and even more so — no Asgard's Wrath 2. As Steve Jobs said, the best manipulator is your hands. But you can't really play complex and complex games with your hands. 

On the other hand, if the market needs to provide content for gaming consumers as well, developers will be forced to come up with their VR masterpieces based on the technology of a non-controller control system. Back in 2008, gamers had no idea how to play with touch controls. 15 years have passed, and on Apple phones and tablets, in addition to projects such as Genshin Impact or Honkai StarRail, Divinity: Original Sin 2, Resident Evil 4 and 8, as well as Death Stranding from Hideo Kojima are released. The latter, by the way, feels more than wonderful with mobile hardware and touch controls. 

The most important thing that Apple has achieved is that it generates tremendous interest in VR today. Regardless of personal impressions, from the first attempt at Apple in VR, it will be interesting to observe the further development of the niche. Considering that a big player has finally joined it, There is a feeling that he will be with us for a long time and will lead everyone. But today, and in the future, there is nothing to say about games — on Apple Vision Pro, they are unlikely to ever become the main form of entertainment.