While many gamers and tech fans were looking forward to the release of VR on the Xbox One X, Microsoft has pulled a 180 and abandoned the integration for the time being.
According to an interview with Mike Nichols, Microsoft’s chief marketing officer for gaming, they don’t have specific plans of bringing virtual reality or mixed reality to the Xbox.
“Our perspective on it has been and continues to be that the PC is probably the best platform for more immersive VR and MR,” said Nichols. “As an open platform, it just allows faster, more rapid iteration.
There are plenty of companies investing in it in the hardware side and the content side, or some combination therein. Obviously on phones, augmented reality is a good scenario as well that’s going to grow. But as it relates to Xbox, no. Our focus is primarily on experiences you would play on your TV, and ultimately we’d like to make those experiences more broadly.”
Just last year Microsoft’s Alex Kipman stated, “Our plan is to bring mixed reality content to the Xbox One family of devices, including Project Scorpio, in 2018.” They designed the Xbox One X to be the most powerful console which can power VR headsets. Now they have shifted their game plans and that is no longer on their roadmap.
It’s quite unfortunate to see Microsoft abandon their promise in a short amount of time. The company will not be competing against Sony and the PlayStation VR.