Roblox Takes A VR Leap, To Debut On Meta Quest Headsets Soon, Mark Zuckerberg Confirms
In the coming weeks, an Open Beta for Roblox on Meta Quest's App Lab will be released.
Roblox, the immensely popular online game creation platform, is set to enter the world of virtual reality (VR) through a collaboration with Meta Quest. Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Meta, made the announcement on Facebook, which was followed by an official blog post from Roblox. The beta version of the VR app will be launched in a few weeks and will be accessible through Meta Quest's dedicated App Lab.
Currently, Roblox boasts a daily user count of over 66 million across various platforms such as mobile devices (iOS and Android), desktops, and Xbox. As one of the largest 3D immersive platforms, Roblox's availability on Meta Quest, a leading VR headset, will provide users aged 13 and older with a new way to experience the platform.
This collaboration presents an opportunity for developers to create and share their experiences with millions of people on Meta Quest. Roblox said in the blog post that developers will have the option to bring their existing Roblox experiences to VR or design new ones specifically for VR.
Previously, creating a VR experience required a specialised team with VR-specific skills. However, with Roblox, developers will soon be able to publish their existing experiences on Meta Quest with minimal additional coding effort. Roblox's universal design allows the same experiences to run seamlessly across multiple platforms.
The cross-platform compatibility of Roblox means that the Meta Quest community can enjoy experiences together with other Roblox users on Xbox, iOS, Android, and desktop. This fosters a sense of connection and enables friends to explore Roblox's 3D immersive platform regardless of the device or platform they use.
Roblox offers over 15 million active experiences, including games, worlds, and social spaces. With its availability on Meta Quest, users will have access to an extensive library of content to explore and enjoy on Meta Quest devices.
In the coming weeks, an Open Beta for Roblox on Meta Quest's App Lab will be released. This will allow developers to gather feedback from VR users who engage with their experiences. The Open Beta serves as a crucial phase for developers to experiment, learn, and refine their VR experiences before the full release of Roblox on the Meta Quest Store. It's important to note that the Open Beta will only support Meta Quest 2 and Meta Quest Pro devices.
Roblox is actively preparing for the launch on Meta Quest by adding 'VR' as a new device type on the Access page of the Creator Dashboard and the Game Settings panel in Roblox Studio. Developers will have the option to control whether their experiences can run wirelessly on Meta Quest 2 and Meta Quest Pro devices using a new checkbox. This setting will eventually encompass all officially supported VR headsets.
To support the early momentum and expansion of VR devices, Roblox has automatically updated the Access settings for experiences that use default player scripts to include VR device support. Experiences using default player scripts tend to run smoothly in VR without modifications. This automatic publishing helps populate the library with experiences that support VR devices. If an experience has been marked as playable on Meta Quest, developers will see the "VR" checkbox checked in Studio and the Creator Dashboard.
Roblox remains committed to supporting PC VR headsets alongside the new standalone VR mode on Meta Quest, which doesn't require a PC connection. Currently, experiences published to 'Desktop' will continue to be available on PC VR. However, in the future, only experiences published to 'VR' (with the 'VR' checkbox checked) will be accessible on PC VR. Advance notice will be provided before implementing this change.
Top Headlines
