Meta wants you to drop $1,499 on a headset to… go to work

2 years ago 99

What happens when you’re working away from your office, so you don’t have your big desk and multiple large monitors with you?

You could just use your laptop and make do. Or, you could buy a $1,499 Quest Pro, which Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg says is built with work specifically in mind. Today, in Horizon Workrooms, Meta is adding a Personal Office feature, which lets you create your own custom slice of the metaverse to… work.

“One of the best things in VR is you can create environments that go beyond what’s possible in the physical world,” Zuckerberg said in the Meta Connect presentation today. “Of course, that goes for productivity setups too, so you have instant access to your perfect workspace that’s set up just how you want, no matter where you are.”

A similar app, Virtual Desktop, first became available on the Oculus Rift (RIP to Oculus branding) in 2016. So, the idea of bringing your computer into VR isn’t exactly new. But from the brief glimpse we saw in today’s presentation, it looks like Meta has elevated their idea a bit.

Image Credits: Meta

“Eventually, we think that your Quest could be the only monitor that you’ll actually need,” said Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth.

No matter how advanced a virtual workspace gets, it’s hard to imagine people using a VR headset to work eight-hour days. If people already suffer from eye strain and headaches from working at a computer (staring through my blue light glasses as I type this), will they really want to strap screens to their face? Still, Meta’s executives are confident that this is the way forward.

“There’s an opportunity for a VR headset designed from the ground up to be great for work, as well as playing games and hanging out,” Zuckerberg said, before unveiling the Quest Pro, along with Meta’s partnership with Microsoft.