Microsoft Is No Longer Bringing Virtual Reality To Xbox One Consoles

Microsoft is no longer planning to bring virtual reality to its Xbox one consoles. Instead, the company will be solely focusing on virtual reality and mixed reality experiences for the PC.

“We don't have any plans specific to Xbox consoles in virtual reality or mixed reality,” Microsoft chief marketing officer Mike Nichols told GamesIndustry.biz during E3 2018. “Our perspective on it has been and continues to be that the PC is probably the best platform for more immersive VR and MR.”

The problem with this is that Microsoft is no longer interested in keeping its promise of bringing virtual reality to the Xbox One console. Xbox chief Phil Spencer originally promised in June 2016 that the Xbox One X, also known as Project Scorpio at the time, would be able to deliver “high-fidelity VR.” Spencer also said that the Xbox one X would be able to deliver “premiere VR experiences without sacrificing performance.”

In June 2017, Spencer told CNET that the Xbox One X will fully support VR. However, at the same time, The Wall Street Journal came out with a report claiming the opposite. A lot of Xbox fans also had high hopes for VR to be available for the Xbox One X console since Microsoft also partnered with Oculus to bring Xbox controller support for the Oculus Rift. It was thought by many that the Xbox One X might also work with the Rift headset, as pointed out by The Verge.

“Because of the opportunity with Windows Mixed Reality, and because we believe the user experience will be best on PC right now, that is where our focus is,” a Microsoft spokesperson told CNET in an email. “We have nothing to share about MR for console at this time.”

Sony has taken a different approach when it comes to virtual reality. The PlayStation 4 and the more powerful PlayStation 4 Pro are both capable of VR through the PlayStation VR headset. The PSVR headset was released in October 2016 and it received a minor upgrade just a year later. There are already hundreds of PSVR games available today and Sony plans to bring more before the end of 2018.