At its changed its name from Facebook to Meta last year.
Meta has also poured billions of dollars into virtual reality-related research recently, with the company's Reality Labs unit reportedly losing billions over the past couple of years trying to bring the metaverse to life. However, undaunted by the mainstream consumer's lack of enthusiasm about the metaverse, Meta is going ahead with its planned VR announcements, launching the Meta Quest Pro mixed reality headset at today's event for a whopping $1,500. The device, which had long been rumored as Project Cambria, will hit shelves on Oct. 25, with Meta claiming that it will offer s a way to interact with virtual objects overlaid onto a full view of the real world around them.
As part of Meta's multi-year deal with NBCUniversal, several of the latter's popular TV shows and movies will now hit VR. The most notable among them is The Office, which chronicles the bizarre goings-on in the Dunder Mifflin Paper Company. Besides The Office, s will also be able to experience a lot of additional content in VR, including shows and movies from Universal Monsters, DreamWorks, Blumhouse, Universal Studios' Halloween Horror Nights, and more. In addition, NBCUniversal's streaming app Peacock will also be available on the Meta Quest VR headset as part of the deal.
The Office Coming To Horizon Worlds
According to Meta's vice president of the metaverse, Vishal Shah, fans can experience the content mentioned above within Horizon Worlds not only from the comfort of their home but also at Universal Studios theme parks. The new experiences will come to the metaverse in 2023, but the company did not give a more specific timeframe.
It's not immediately clear how Meta plans to capitalize on the popularity of the NBCUniversal shows, but the company will likely be hoping that it will help initiate more people to the metaverse, if only to check out the technology. The company could also use the shows to sell a few more of its VR headsets, so it will be interesting to see how the Meta-NBCUniversal partnership works in the long run.
Source: Oculus