Facebook removes the cheapest VR headset from the market. What is the real reason?

Just two years after launch, Facebook announced that it was discontinuing Oculus Go. It was the least powerful, but also the most inexpensive virtual reality headset. When will the company stop selling and what is the reason for this decision?

Facebook has announced that it will stop selling its entry-level Oculus Go headset as it focuses on its higher-level virtual reality products.

“We will finish selling Oculus Go headsets this year as we redouble our efforts to improve our offerings for Quest and Rift.”

Facebook

The company introduced Go in May 2018, with prices starting at $ 199. The device is a universal VR-headset that can work without being tied to a computer and without using a smartphone. Since then, Facebook launched Quest for $ 399, a more powerful universal headset, and Rift S also for $ 399 dollars, which must be connected to the computer to work.
The announcement of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg about entering the Oculus Go market at the end of 2017 was a major event for a company that had never before released a standalone headset and struggled with consumers’ opinions on the high cost of such technology. Priced at $ 199, the Oculus Go has largely become a replacement for the discontinued Samsung Gear VR.

Today, Facebook will continue to provide bug fixes and security fixes for Go until 2022, but will no longer deliver new features, the company said. Facebook will also stop accepting new Go apps and updates after December 4, 2020.

Along with the Go release announcement, Oculus is also sharing information on working to open up the application ecosystem, making it easier for developers to distribute their applications. Previously, the company quite aggressively rejected the ideas of engineers, which Facebook considered too experimental. Some of these developers forced users to “download” applications in unofficial ways. But such a scheme worked only for those who were willing to spend time on this.

At the moment, Facebook does not change the model of its store for the Oculus Store but shares the vague details of an alternative distribution model, which will be released early next year.