Microsoft just killed Windows Mixed Reality but the company's VR vision lives on thanks to a surprising savior in Meta Quest

not quite sure what to make of this, but the day they drop VR for MSFS/MSFS2024 it is back to x-plane for me. hopefully this never happens.

per usual, hysteria without a pause to reflect on the details. The official stance from MS is WMR will be gone in a later version of Windows, not 11.
That may not release for a number of years, so by the time that happens, the hardcore VR user will have (most likely) moved on from the current ecosystem into the next gen. Meta/Varjo/Bigscreen/Pimax all use proprietary drivers so this really doesn't have to be the house fire so many online are claiming it is.

5 hours ago, ZLA Steve said:

all use proprietary drivers

drivers is one thing, genuine support (future MSFS versions) by the app is another.

Agree, but there is a long timeline before being forced to upgrade to the next windows version.

I imagine in this very forum memberbase there are still folks on Vista and even XP so no immediate rush. 
 

Even if they did suddenly remove WMR without warning, you can guarantee someone would hack a way for it to work anyway so nothing would change.

I've still got a G1 as backup to my G2, so as long as WMR remains on Win11 I'm just fine as I don't plan on upgrading my HMD anytime soon.

Don't Panic Mr Mannering!

Phil Spencer, vice president of Microsoft Studios, has said several times he doesn't believe in VR. we can consider ourselves lucky it was still included in MSFS, later on. VR is missing from the latest Microsoft Forza racing game, and not supported on the x-box from day one. we shall see, in our VR headsets.

Edited December 22, 20232 yr by turbomax

WMR never reached the stability and maturity that other VR platforms have, so maybe this isn't surprising.

I was considering switching to the Quest 3 from the G2 anyway, so maybe that's the way to go in the futute. Just hope they aren't gonna axe VR from MSFS2024 or any other version, though given that it's quite popular in flight simming and that they listened to the community and implemented VR in MSFS I can't see that happening.

9 minutes ago, threegreen said:

Just hope they aren't gonna axe VR from MSFS2024 or any other version, though given that it's quite popular in flight simming and that they listened to the community and implemented VR in MSFS I can't see that happening.

With their history of lacklustre attention to fixing VR bugs, introducing features and general ignorance of the subject during Q&As I wouldn't put anything past them. I've lost all faith in their ability not to mention desire for VR, it's clear and evident for all to see.

I think what we'll get is that VR simply "works" for MSFS2024 like it does now and that'll be it, keep those expectations extremely low, I know I will.

13 minutes ago, MarcG said:

With their history of lacklustre attention to fixing VR bugs, introducing features and general ignorance of the subject during Q&As I wouldn't put anything past them. I've lost all faith in their ability not to mention desire for VR, it's clear and evident for all to see.

I think what we'll get is that VR simply "works" for MSFS2024 like it does now and that'll be it, keep those expectations extremely low, I know I will.

To be frank I never understood when you said VR was so bad and buggy in MSFS. I'm flying in VR exclusively myself and couldn't tell you a single thing wrong with it. If MSFS2024 VR is like it is now I will be satisfied.

23 minutes ago, threegreen said:

To be frank I never understood when you said VR was so bad and buggy in MSFS. I'm flying in VR exclusively myself and couldn't tell you a single thing wrong with it. If MSFS2024 VR is like it is now I will be satisfied.

I fully respect that and I'm glad you enjoy the experience, as do I. However I do paint a bleak picture admittedly, but when there's bugs introduced in SU5 & 7 that still exist, the dreadful immersion breaking Shutdown Bug that they've ignorantly ignored, still no simple single image on the monitor, having to rely on OpenXR Toolkit for features that should be default in the Sim, poor performance in random situations (although this is true for pancake mode to be fair) then I feel aggrieved that there's been very little attention paid to VR which is evident by the severe lack of new features/bug fixes in 3 years and when Jorg sidesteps the subject relentlessly in Q&As time & time again.

Like I said "it works" which is in their eyes enough, coming from a profession/career that relies upon top quality and having been part of many game/simulation developments over the years, I tend to pick up on failings quite easily (a bugbear of mine!) and IMO the VR experience in this Sim could be sooo much better if they actually paid attention too it, but alas they don't so we get the bare minimum. I'm not content with that personally, I would like more and at the very very least regression bugs to be dealt with immediately....but they get ignored year on year which is dreadful.

I've said this countless times before, I love this Sim and when it works in VR it is great, but it could be and should be so much better. 🙂

the week Apple announced their top notch Vision Pro, Microsoft announces the end for WMR for future Windows versions and for SteamVR. Yes, we all know MAC is not Windows, but still, after Marc Zuckerberg's and Apple's investment of billions, Microsoft withdraws from this technology. Coincidence or do they try to harm their opponents  investments?

6 minutes ago, turbomax said:

the week Apple announced their top notch Vision Pro, Microsoft announces the end for WMR for future Windows versions and for SteamVR. Yes, we all know MAC is not Windows, but still, after Marc Zuckerberg's and Apple's investment of billions, Microsoft withdraws from this technology. Coincidence or do they try to harm their opponents  investments?

Microsoft laid off all the WMR and other VR staff earlier this year so it was already set in stone, just coincidence that they announce the deprecation this week I think.

34 minutes ago, MarcG said:

the dreadful immersion breaking Shutdown Bug

What's that even?

59 minutes ago, threegreen said:

What's that even?

https://forums.flightsimulator.com/t/engine-shutdown-breaks-immersion-in-vr/