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Ziatora t1_j8xlwza wrote

Reply to comment by Caughtnow in Exclusive: Tencent scraps plans for VR hardware as metaverse bet falters by BlueLightStruct

I don’t understand how anyone thinks achieving a $450 capable VR headset is a flop at all. We use a Quest 2 for our home gym, and the thing is outstanding.

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Xylotophone t1_j8xvt6y wrote

It's a matter of perspective. If Meta had been marketing their device as a family game console, then yeah, the Quest 2 would have been a success. The problem is that Meta was banking on VR and their particular take on the 'Metaverse' concept blasting the doors wide-open to a revolutionary new market segment in VR social media technology -- They wanted to be the kingpins running the lion's share of VR-centric social infrastructure, the way Microsoft dominates in OSes and Google dominates in web searches. To that extent, they planned for their technology to achieve widespread adoption in multiple key areas in society, such as home productivity and the work place, rather than remaining primarily leisure/recreational.

So, yeah, from the perspective of Meta's absurdly high goals of 'invent what is functionally an entirely new form of internet', the Quest 2 is a failure.

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DarthBuzzard t1_j8y2p6o wrote

The Quest 2 is a success. It outperformed every expectation put onto it, even internally by Meta.

Of course it's still a niche device, but Meta wasn't expecting different until Quest 4 or 5 and beyond.

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alternate_me t1_j91ky65 wrote

I don’t really agree with this take. They explained a really long term vision, and people are upset it hasn’t happened yet, even if they were talking about 10 years into the future.

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sesor33 t1_j8xnd2r wrote

Quest 2 has sold 20 million units in about 2.5 years, I'd call that pretty successful for gen 1.5 hardware. PSVR2 is about to release and I'd say is the first mainstream gen 2 headset. And that's so popular in preorders that they limited it to one per household.

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Ziatora t1_j90lyzt wrote

Also, fuck capitalism. Success isn’t always about “profits”. You and I don’t get jack shit for that. You know what we do get something for? Accessible tech. I call this one a fucking win, especially with how shockingly open the Quest is.

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PrivateEyesWatch t1_j8xup3i wrote

Well the Quest 2 is 450$ because it has been heavily subsidized. Iirc a version without any data gathering by facebook would've cost 800$

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WOTDisLanguish t1_j8y44r8 wrote

It's not data that's valuable this time. A facebook account's worth $16 in cash, and you'll never make that back with advertising alone.

The true value here's the OS which allows Facebook to have a monopoly over what games are allowed on their market dominant platform.

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tim0901 t1_j8z7ug4 wrote

You can get a lot more data from a Quest headset than you can from a Facebook account. Some highlights of what's collected according to the Quest's privacy policy:

  • Physical details of the user eg height, head and hand dimensions
  • Fitness data
  • Eye tracking data (not "raw" data - only processed...)
  • User facial expressions (again only "processed")
  • Environmental information & dimensions (aka. details of the room you use it in)

And it's not about an individual's data being valuable - it's not like Facebook lets you buy access to an individual's data set anyway - it's about what you can do when you have access to millions of individuals' data. Facebook made $113B in advertising income in 2022, or ~$39 per user they have on their platform. Having access to more data like that collected by the Quest means they can more accurately target ads to these users, which of course they can then offer to advertisers for even more money.

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alternate_me t1_j91ldg9 wrote

These things the quest 2 “collects” are just used to run VR, you’re not getting targeted ads based on it.

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tim0901 t1_j92ru1a wrote

They state that they use this information for marketing purposes in that same privacy policy. You are definitely getting targeted ads based on it.

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alternate_me t1_j93nmus wrote

Try making a Facebook ad and tell me what setting let’s you target based on face tracking data

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_WhatchaDoin_ t1_j9565pz wrote

People have no idea what ad tracking means. lol

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To be comfortable, and feel that VR looks real you need actual measurement, and then people think that if you are 5ft you will get an ad for a pasta maker, and if you are 6ft you will get an ad for a vacuum cleaner.

So much lack of critical thinking. Reddit is not better than other social networks (audience think they are somehow smarter).

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And yes, you are right, there is no private information as targeting for an ad. Overall, it is pretty generic and based on interests, locations, people with similar behaviors.

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alternate_me t1_j963g1k wrote

Thank you for backing me up here. I go insane on Reddit trying to explain the ad world. People are convinced of the most crazy conspiracies

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tim0901 t1_j96plj8 wrote

Face tracking and eye tracking allows them to determine your point of focus on screen (known as "gaze tracking") as well as how you are reacting to what you're seeing via mood/emotion etc. In the context of the Quest, this gives them a metric of how much you're enjoying certain games, which would allow them to give you more accurate recommendations (ads) for new ones that you might like to buy. Height data can be used to target kids with a very high degree of accuracy, even if they aren't using their own account. It's not about selling these individual pieces of data, it's about more accurately sorting you into the demographics that they allow advertisers to choose from (and potentially open up new ones). Because accuracy sells - if your ad company gets the reputation of being inaccurate, you will lose customers.

It also gives them information on how much you're paying attention to the advertisements you're being shown. One of the big questions in advertising is always "how do consumers respond to our adverts" - how long are they looking at the ad etc. Gaze tracking gives them that information, and has been an area of research in the advertising field for many years. If you're someone who pays more attention to adverts, then you're a more valuable target for advertisers, especially if they are able to make the link between you seeing an advert and a purchase being made. Or if you're someone who doesn't particularly pay attention to static ads, but will pay attention to a video ad, Meta can use that information to tailor what ads you get served. Conversely, if more people than normal are not paying attention to a particular ad, then Meta can more accurately report to the advertiser that their ad is performing poorly, likely far sooner than with other metrics.

So by doing this, Facebook/Meta has improved on two of the core parts of advertising: accuracy and retention. If you are able to boast to advertisers that you can target certain demographics with a higher degree of accuracy, then not only will more advertisers be interested in your services, but you are also able to charge them more money for that luxury. Similarly, being able to boast a higher viewer retention is of great value to advertisers, especially if this can be linked to higher sales, as is more accurate information on how ad campaigns are being recieved.

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Ziatora t1_j90m2ni wrote

The Quest runs Android. Facebook doesn’t have a monopoly. The hardware platform can actually be fully reinstalled without issue.

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Truffle_Shuffle_85 t1_j8z0gq9 wrote

>I don’t understand how anyone thinks achieving a $450 capable VR headset is a flop at all.

100%, the advancements in VR and AR are astounding really in recent years. the future is going to be a blend of both without a doubt, when and how that will unfold is still wide open.

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Ziatora t1_j90mgdc wrote

I read all of this hate for Quest and Meta. You know what? Fuck Zuck. I don’t have a FB account. We have a house account for the Quest, and don’t do jack on Zuck’s shit platforms.

But even I can admit the Quest is fucking amazing, and Meta has something amazing here. The media has a hard on for hating this stuff and I don’t get it.

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