Meta Connect 2022: Everything We Learned

Meta’s annual Meta Connect event took place recently and gave those with a keen eye on the future of VR and MR much to talk about. Alongside the major reveal of the Meta Quest Pro headset came information about the direction in which Meta is headed, the potential impact of its latest tech on porn, and what could very well become the industry norm in just a few years.

Introducing Meta Quest Pro

After many months of speculation, Meta revealed that its next VR device will not only deal with virtual reality but also incorporate mixed reality technologies. Intended for “productivity, creative work, and multi-tasking” more than entertainment or gaming, Meta Quest Pro, the device formerly known as “Project Cambria” is already available for preorder and will begin shipping on October 25. Priced at $1,499 USD, Quest Pro lives up to its “Pro” name and may not be all that attractive to casual VR users. It does offer some substantial upgrades to Quest 2, however, and will surely find some enthusiastic users in a variety of fields. 

With its curved cell battery, slimline design, and pancake lenses, Quest Pro can be worn for longer periods without the fatigue of using existing VR headsets. The new lens design also brings 37% more pixels per inch than Quest 2, as well as 75% more contrast at only 60% of the size of the fresnel lenses found in Quest 2. Meta touted Quest Pro’s “open periphery” design, noting that it obstructs less of your environmental vision and lets you see the outside world while in VR. Magnetic light blockers can be attached to negate this feature for greater immersion. Clearly dedicated to MR – and notably using the term “mixed reality” and not “augmented reality” during the virtual event – Meta highlighted numerous business and productivity applications of Quest Pro. In fact, most freshly announced entertainment or gaming features applied to Quest 2, with Quest Pro remaining largely in-office.

Good News for Non-Pros

Included with every Quest Pro package is a pair of Touch Pro controllers. With improved haptic feedback, an 8-hour battery life, index finger and thumb sensing, and a stylus addition that aims to give creatives more precise control, the Touch Pro controllers offer substantial improvements over Quest 2’s controllers. Luckily for those not aiming to upgrade their headset, Touch Pro controllers will be compatible with Quest 2 and available to purchase separately in late 2022 to the tune of $300.

While many expected Quest Pro to be the true successor to Quest 2, Meta confirmed that it is, in fact, a professional-level branch off the main Quest line. Meta Quest 3 was leaked earlier this year and was confirmed in a recent interview between Zuckerberg and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. Zuckerberg noted that Quest 3 would not arrive this year and that it would fall into a $300 to $500 price range.

New Avatar, New You

After receiving ample criticism for its legless, graphically simplistic avatars, Meta showcased its newly developed full-body avatars. With more expressive faces, the addition of a lower half, and a more detailed appearance, these look much more like what many VR users expected when they were initially announced. The new avatars will be rolled out beginning “later” in 2023. Meta also revealed to journalists that the footage of Zuckerberg’s avatar jumping and kicking shown at Connect was not from a working demo of the updated avatars but an animation built from motion capture footage.

Meta is meanwhile working on “codec avatars,” a more photorealistic full-body avatar that may eventually supersede even next year’s new arrivals. Along with a less complex version currently known as Instant Avatar – simply record your face with a smartphone for about 45 seconds, and you’ll receive a head-and-shoulders avatar to represent you in VR – these more realistic avatars represent an effort by Meta to ensure its Metaverse is not seen solely as a VR playground, but also a venue for truly direct expression and interaction.

Honing Horizon Worlds

Horizon Worlds may not have set the world on fire since its release, with low user numbers and a general attitude of disinterest among those who have used the platform. Meta hopes to shift the sour perspective of many naysayers by allowing access to Horizon Worlds via the web, without requiring VR. Also adding Microsoft apps to allow distributed teams to collaborate within Horizon Worlds, Meta’s attempts to improve the platform’s reputation are hopeful, if not bound for success. The newly designed avatars will no doubt aid this mission, but when the idea of working in VR is being seen by many as an unnecessary extra step toward what is essentially a virtualization of the act of typing on a screen, it’s a big ask.

Real Life Made Virtual

Other material acts and objects many humans largely take for granted have also been targeted by Meta. Physical fitness, exercise, and movement all received plenty of attention at Connect. Meta will be releasing a Fitness API beta that will allow its devices and developers’ apps to obtain, interpret, and utilize information about users’ physical state and performance.

More in line with Zuckerberg’s goals for the future of computing, a wrist-mounted device that will observe the activity of motor neurons and translate that into control gestures – think of turning your wrist to turn a virtual page, pinching to select a menu option, or making a fist to open a new interface element – was previewed at Connect. Removing cameras currently utilized by hand tracking technology and placing receptors where many people would wear a watch is a sure sign that Meta is banking on wearable MR tech becoming a major computing platform in the future. 

The Potential for Porn

While Meta Quest Pro promises a solid upgrade over Quest 2, the real Meta Connect takeaway for VR porn lovers centers around the rendering of the real world into the virtual. From wearable tech allowing greater, more naturalistic interactions in adults-only virtual spaces to streamlined rendering of physical objects into VR – Meta is utilizing Neural Radiance Fields (or NeRFs) to reconstruct virtually items that exist in the real world – there’s every reason to expect the virtual porn of 2030 will include some version of this tech.

Scan yourself into a photorealistic avatar and hookup with a partner on the other side of the world (or your favorite porn star)! Have your arousal tracked and translated to your VR hookup partner, or have it modify viewing material to better suit your sexual interests at any given moment. Such technology will undoubtedly be part of the future of porn. And Meta, whatever its attitude toward adult content, is helping to shape that future.