Xbox One Won’t Have Oculus Rift Support For A While Yet

Xbox One players hoping to step into virtual reality gaming might have to wait a while yet. Speaking to Polygon, Oculus Rift’s Vice President of Product, Nate Mitchell, indicated that console support for the Rift was still some way away.

“It has been a conversation, but I can say we’re not so close.”

This is despite the growing closeness of the two companies. Since Microsoft announced in June that they were working with Oculus, it’s been announced that an Xbox controller will be shipped with every headset and that a special Oculus “touch” controller is being prepared for release. And just yesterday, Oculus announced that Minecraft, amongst other Windows 10 games, would be coming to virtual reality. But it appears that this focus on Windows 10 is coming at the expense of the Xbox One. Nate Mitchell explained that the challenges surrounding VR support were significant, and indicated that they would be working at completing one project at a time.

“Because of that, we’ve been laser focused on getting Windows in awesome shape. No one is really thinking right now about bringing the Rift to a console, especially when the spec is so different from what we’re targeting right now.”

So what this means is that we can expect PC gamers to get the benefits of the Microsoft/Oculus relationship much sooner than Xbox One players. In response to rumors that the Xbox One might not ever get support for the VR headset, Nate was more positive. He pointed out that neither power nor hardware was an issue when it comes to integrating the two systems. In terms of power, Samsung smartphones run Gear VR, so there is little likelihood that the Xbox One lacks the juice to run an Oculus headset. And Mitchell believes that the hardware is enough to run a “great VR experience on Xbox One.” It’s just not what they’re focused on right now.

The partnership with Microsoft is a significant gain for Oculus. Virtual Reality has been intermittently around for decades in the gaming world, and its continued failure to take off has led many to write it off as a fad. Significant improvements in graphics, wearables, and processors, however, have opened what some see as a fresh window for better market penetration. But the content needs to be there, and gaining access to Xbox One and Microsoft titles will make it that much easier for Oculus to convince consumers that there is sufficient content to justify investing in VR technology.

The Xbox division of Microsoft has previously shown little interest in VR, focusing instead on the Hololens Project, an augmented, rather than virtual reality, experience. According to Gamespot, however, Xbox is open to the idea. Xbox head Phil Spencer has been quoted as saying that he doesn’t think of VR as a fad. Spencer, however, would be unhappy with a situation where VR was the only way to play games.

This might go some way to explaining why Xbox hasn’t really responded to the much more emphatic VR push by arch-rival Playstation. Sony’s “Project Morpheus” represents a major commitment to VR gaming. While no pricing or details have as yet been announced, indications are that Sony is much more heavily committed to jumping on the VR bandwagon, so to speak, than Xbox.

There is, however, no reason to say “never.” The very fact of Oculus working with Microsoft would suggest that VR for the Xbox One is merely a matter of time. Nate Mitchell himself has been careful not to rule it out, despite his careful management of expectations.

“It’s not out of the question, but it’s not something we’re actively working on right now,”

[Picture via Getty Images/Pool]