In late 2021 Meta began to tease a high-end Virtual Reality (VR) headset it was developing called Project Cambria. Back then it was rumored to be something akin to a Quest Pro device. It was touted as an upgraded and refined Quest, with more advanced capabilities. In this week’s earnings call, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg shared new details on the still-in-progress headset. As Zuck pitched it, the device is more for work than gaming.
On the call, the Meta CEO discussed the multiple headwinds the company was facing and how it plans to overcome them. One of its strategies is creating its version of the Metaverse, which has been discussed ad nauseam. However, this time Zuckerberg delved a bit into the hardware that will take people there. “Later this year, we’ll release a higher-end headset, codenamed Project Cambria, which will be more focused on work use cases and eventually replacing your laptop or work setup,” he said. How in the heck Zuck expects someone like me to write an article like this with just a headset remains to be seen.
He continued, “This premium device will have improved ergonomics and full color passthrough mixed reality to seamlessly blend virtual reality with the physical world.” As mentioned by PCMag, full color passthrough will mark a huge upgrade over its current hardware. The Quest 2 only allows grainy, black-and-white passthrough, so a move to full-color will be significant. He finished his remarks stating Cambria will also have eye-and-face tracking too. “We’re also building in eye tracking and face tracking so that your avatar can make eye contact and [make]facial expressions, which dramatically improves your sense of presence.” His mention of eye tracking is a hint that Cambria might use foveated rendering like the PSVR2. This technology increases performance by only rendering areas where a person is looking in high detail. The areas outside a person’s gaze are rendered at reduced detail levels.
He concluded the metaverse discussion by saying the company is focusing on its current outlet, Horizon Worlds. You may recall it was featured in a very strange Super Bowl ad this year. Zuckerberg said Cambria’s ability to translate facial expressions will “provide the best metaverse experience — whether you’re playing a game or meeting with co-workers in Horizon Workrooms.” Despite Zuckerberg’s claims that a Meta headset provides the best experience, it’s looking at ways to decouple Horizon Worlds from its headset requirement.
He said the company plans on bringing the experience to many platforms, including a web-version that’ll come later this year. Ideally, anyone will be able to join Horizon Worlds from any device or platform, even without a headset. Zuck also stated one of the company’s priorities in Horizon Worlds is “helping creators make a living working in the metaverse.” This is despite previous reports of Meta taking an almost 50 percent commission on user-generated sales in Horizon Worlds. This sparked an online backlash, and in a rare public statement Apple called the company’s policy “hypocrisy.” That’s because Meta has previously complained about the App Store’s 30 percent commissions.
Mark’s comments suggest the company is prioritizing the metaverse with Project Cambria. This could mean it sees that venue as more beneficial to its future than gaming. It also sounds a bit like Meta expects to do battle with Apple in the future. No other company has been rumored to be developing a high-end headset other than Apple so far. Sure, Sony’s PSVR2 won’t be cheap but that’s for console gaming. Plus, it’s been reported that Apple hates the metaverse, so it might also be aiming its headset at work scenarios. Either that or Apple wants some of those juicy government contracts currently being fulfilled haphazardly by Microsoft.
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