I have a reply sitting in Disqus limbo for several hours now, I think since I included a Reddit link. So without the link:

Luckey implied that pretty strongly at one point, but I think the evidence suggests that he was either mistaken or lying.

1. Luckey said that Oculus couldn’t get the Oculus store and apps working with the Vive without access to the Vive’s SDK. But you know, a rando made ReVive and totally got the Oculus store and apps working with the Vive and other headsets. Was that one guy just a better programmer than everyone at Oculus?

2. Shortly afterwards, it was Oculus that tried to block ReVive. They only backed down once the developer was about to release a new bypass that would completely circumvent the Rift’s DRM, breaking it wide open for piracy. Valve never took any action against ReVive, even though Luckey suggested that Oculus wanted its apps on the Vive and Valve didn’t.

3. But let’s say Valve really wouldn’t play ball with Oculus to let Oculus apps onto their headset. What about Microsoft, HP, HTC, Pimax, Lenovo and every other headset manufacturer? They can all run SteamVR games but none of them have access to the Oculus store. Did every one of these companies turn their nose up at Oculus? Even ones like Samsung who don’t even have their own storefront? None of them thought it would be worth the competitive advantage? Or is it more likely that Oculus just wasn’t willing to cooperate despite what Luckey said?

4. Someone asked Gabe point blank whether Valve was blocking the Oculus store or otherwise refusing to cooperate (this was where I had a Reddit link). His answer, according to the Reddit poster, was “No.”

Google with Samsung, which is Apple’s competitor, has apps that WILL translate over to a headset and or glasses making the transition easier for consumers to use from their Android Galaxy phones.

Facebook is begging developers to bring those Android apps to their headset. Because they know they are not a cellphone provider, don’t have the catalog of apps that the other two future competitors do. And unlike Facebook, Apple is capable of selling hardware that is around $1,000-$1,500. Facebook couldn’t sell Quest Pro at $1,500 or at $1,000. Samsung even gets away with selling high priced phones. That’s real competition when they can do it but Facebook can’t. That’s why Quest 3 is being pushed now and into 2024 with AR. Because they have AR glasses coming that needs apps.

Vision Pro is only a warm up to what’s coming. A cheaper Vision headset is coming that will be no different in price to an iPhone that already sells very well for $1,000 without a contract. But it will have Vision Pro features. Apple, can also pair with cellular providers to subsidize the cost over a year or two contract and those headsets will have all the popular apps, will have calling and messaging and play games and entertainment.

This is what Facebook is scared of. Maybe they could pair off with Amazon and add those apps. Smarter thing would have been them completing their OS instead of abandoning it for Microsoft’s benefit.

Gamers think VR is the only thing going on. They only think it’s about PC and stand alone and console VR. They better wake up. There’s a bigger war brewing right smack in their face. Quest 3 having mixed reality is more Facebook preparing developers to make AR software that can be added to glasses than being about VR and AR gaming. I love VR. But there’s more going on. And when those bigger companies jump in, Facebook has a real war coming. Laughing about $3,500 when that’s not the future price and product Apple will be selling. It’s just a high end preview.

Meta should really start to clean up their messed up ecosystem and make an OS that can run on alternative hardware if they don’t want their plateform being crushed within a few years when true competition arrives.

If the idea is that Google keeps their Play Store off competitors’ hardware since people won’t buy an Android phone if they can get the apps elsewhere, I think a Surface Pro is a much more significant threat than a Quest.

Although, Meta can choke on it. Users of the Vive and other VR headsets wanted to buy and play Oculus Rift games on their gear, but Facebook never opened that up either. So this seems pretty hypocritical of them.