VR hardware startup Megadodo Games announced a strategic “pivot”, warning of inflated element expenses and very long preorder shipping delay for DecaGear.
DecaGear was very first announced in Oct 2020 as a $450 Computer system VR headset with HP Reverb resolution, facial expression monitoring, hip monitoring, and Contact-like controllers with Index-like finger monitoring. Preorders opened soon just after. The 1st batch was meant to ship in Might, but this was delayed to Q4. Megadodo now states it has “pre-orders from 10 hundreds members” and they now concentrate on the conclusion of 2022 for a “Limited version of DecaGear”.
In an announcement put up titled ‘Shortage, Meta, Financials, It is Time to Pivot’, co-founder and CEO Or Kuntzman warned the worldwide semiconductor lack will make that $450 pricepoint no for a longer time feasible.
“Semiconductors crave for big orders although investors see too quite a few dangers for substantial expense. Even if we remedy the economic difficulties and create the headset as is, its present-day price is ~$700, a lot more than double the charge of the Quest 2.“
It’s unclear no matter whether that $700 price estimate will utilize to present preorders or only the prospect of a broader scale release.
Kuntzman claims he doesn’t want to sell high priced components, and so Megadodo will “pivot and alter to a route that will make it possible for us to make a long term in VR towards an open up ecosystem”. Soon after shipping a “limited edition” of DecaGear to preorders, the products will be sold and delivered by “other device makers”. In 2023, he would like Megadodo to launch a ‘DecaBrick OS’ which other unit makers can use, presumably a standalone VR running method.
Distinct particulars of this new method must be unveiled next week, Kuntzman claims. We’ll be intrigued to hear how partnering with other producers can provide down that $700 estimate.
The announcement will occur as a disappointment to Computer system VR buyers hoping for a lot more levels of competition in the components sector. Meta’s headsets now make up above 60% of SteamVR use, with Quest 2 by itself accounting for 35%. No other new Laptop headsets are on the horizon, but experiences suggest Valve is operating on a standalone with Computer streaming functionality.