Meta has announced that it’s working to bring its Quest operating system to a range of third-party devices in a new initiative to expand its ecosystem and open computing platform.
Meta revealed it’s releasing its “Meta Horizon OS” to new, non-Quest devices including some from the likes of ASUS ROG, Lenovo and Xbox, so that they can take advantage of the decade of advances made toward the platform that currently powers headsets like the excellent Quest 3. What it means is that consumers will now have more freedom to choose hardware that fits their needs and lifestyle, and get a connected and seamless experience across a common platform with the same accounts, avatars, friends and digital libraries – the Meta Quest mobile app will also be integrated and renamed to the Meta Horizon App.
Meta’s also opening up its app ecosystem more to developers to make it easier to ship software for Meta Horizon OS, and offering new tools for mobile developers to bring their apps across to the platform.
The devices “revealed” so far, though we still don’t know a ton about them, are a new performance gaming headset from ASUS’ Republic of Gamers brand, mixed-reality devices from Lenovo with a focus on productivity, learning and entertainment, and a special Xbox-themed limited edition Meta Quest headset.
Alongside the announcement on Meta’s blog, old mate Mark Zuckerberg also dropped an explainer video where he went over some of the possibilities that could come out of this new endeavour. This included the mention of a headset that “comes out of the box with Xbox Controllers and Game Pass,” suggesting that might be where this new Xbox-partnered headset is going – though there’s still room for the possibility of bespoke hardware or features in this Xbox headset that could be revealed at a later date.
You can watch it below:
