Since Facebook purchased Oculus, many have wondered when the social network will use virtual reality to bring its various offerings closer to your eyeballs.
Now Oculus users are quite literally seeing the Facebook Messenger app roll out for their Quest and Quest 2 headsets. In a blog post, Oculus says the VR version of Messenger will unite people around games and performances, as well as offering another way to exchange instant messages with your pals while in VR.
Oculus says the presence of the app makes it easy to join parties and play some of the best VR games like Beat Saber, or watch a performance in Venus. Or, if you’re doing something else in VR, you can hop into messenger and use voice-to-text to send a quick reply without interrupting your session.
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“With this update, you can choose to chat with your Facebook friends anywhere they have Messenger, even if they’re not in VR,” Oculus writes. “You can reach them without taking off your headset—and they can chat with you too. Write messages however you’d like, whether typing them out in VR, selecting a pre-written conversation starter, or using our voice-to-text feature. And if you’re chatting with your friends in Messenger and decide you all want to play together, you can easily create an Oculus Party so you can jump in and play the same game together.”
The update comes with the V25 software update for Quest headsets, alongside a new App Lab that enables developers to share works-in-progress with Oculus users before submission and approval. Experiences launching with the update include:
- Ancient Dungeon Beta by ErThu
- Baby Hands by Chicken Waffle
- Crisis VRigade and Crisis VRigade 2 by Sumalab
- Deisim by Myron Software
- Descent Alps – Demo by Sutur
- Gym Class by IRL Studios Inc
- MarineVerse Cup by MarineVerse
- Puzzling Places – Beta by realities.io Inc
- Spark AR Player by Facebook
- Smash Drums Demo by PotamWorks
- Zoe by apelab