Oculus Rift won't support Apple's Mac anytime soon, co-founder says
In an interview on Wednesday, Oculus co-founder and head of Rift operations Nate Mitchell said that while support for macOS is not currently on the company's roadmap, it might revisit the topic of Apple integration in the future.
Mitchell told TechCrunch that Oculus would like to offer support for macOS devices as it does for Windows PCs, but the Facebook-owned company is "just not there quite yet."
"We do want to do OS X (macOS) support for Rift, it's not something that's currently on the roadmap for -- I can even say -- the next six months," Mitchell said. "We will continue to revisit it, the real challenge for us is just how much we invest into that space because it does require a lot of our time and energy to get it right and to deliver a great experience."
For now, the company is focused on delivering VR to the masses as part of Facebook's ten-year plan to mainstream the technology. In an effort to further adoption, fo example, Oculus today slashed the price of its Rift and Oculus touch controller bundle to $598.
Oculus initially experimented with OS X -- and Linux -- support for the Rift headset during early development, but ultimately "paused" the project in 2015. The company offered no information as to when, or indeed if, the Mac initiative would continue.
Co-founder Palmer Luckey later said a Mac version of the VR hardware would only arrive when Apple released hardware capable of driving Rift's power-hungry components. Luckey specifically referenced Apple's preference to exclude top-tier GPUs from Mac build options.
At the time, Rift required a PC with a Core i5-4590 processor or better and an Nvidia GTX 970 or AMD R9 290 video card. Software optimizations relaxed those requirements, meaning Rift is now compatible with machines running at least an Intel i3-6100 or AMD FX4350 processor and an Nvidia GTX 960 or AMD Radeon R9 290 GPU.
Apple's latest hardware, including high-end MacBook Pro with Touch Bar models, boast comparable specs. Still, Oculus has yet to dedicate the resources to developing a Mac software suite or compatible APIs.
Mitchell told TechCrunch that Oculus would like to offer support for macOS devices as it does for Windows PCs, but the Facebook-owned company is "just not there quite yet."
"We do want to do OS X (macOS) support for Rift, it's not something that's currently on the roadmap for -- I can even say -- the next six months," Mitchell said. "We will continue to revisit it, the real challenge for us is just how much we invest into that space because it does require a lot of our time and energy to get it right and to deliver a great experience."
For now, the company is focused on delivering VR to the masses as part of Facebook's ten-year plan to mainstream the technology. In an effort to further adoption, fo example, Oculus today slashed the price of its Rift and Oculus touch controller bundle to $598.
Oculus initially experimented with OS X -- and Linux -- support for the Rift headset during early development, but ultimately "paused" the project in 2015. The company offered no information as to when, or indeed if, the Mac initiative would continue.
Co-founder Palmer Luckey later said a Mac version of the VR hardware would only arrive when Apple released hardware capable of driving Rift's power-hungry components. Luckey specifically referenced Apple's preference to exclude top-tier GPUs from Mac build options.
At the time, Rift required a PC with a Core i5-4590 processor or better and an Nvidia GTX 970 or AMD R9 290 video card. Software optimizations relaxed those requirements, meaning Rift is now compatible with machines running at least an Intel i3-6100 or AMD FX4350 processor and an Nvidia GTX 960 or AMD Radeon R9 290 GPU.
Apple's latest hardware, including high-end MacBook Pro with Touch Bar models, boast comparable specs. Still, Oculus has yet to dedicate the resources to developing a Mac software suite or compatible APIs.
Comments
Google was closest with Glass to a usuable form of altered reality. I don't see full-VR as the path forward. I agree with Tim Cook on this one - Augmented Reality or some variant is where development efforts should be.
Also, i'm a pro and a creative, and VR is not a cutting edge part of my job. At all.
Yes, this:
Glass was NOT VR even remotely. It wasn't even AR! To top it all off. It was deemed useless by most people.
AR and VR are nothing like that. I just did Ghost Busters VR with my family. WOW! Home Vr seems like a little stretch after that. No just because the gear is pricey, (it's not THAT expensive, but at $1k/ person pretty expensive) but the amount of space, wind/ air, lighting and even smell fx combined with a nice space and props to support a good playable VR map are way beyond what most people can do at home, but kind of essential to the experience. We walked across a VR bridge that they enhanced with a physical structure that swayed in the wind. It made the VR experience seem unbelievably real thanks physics, biology and perception of the mind. You can replicate that at home walking in place.
It's funny how people say that. I guarantee if Apple made machines with high end gpu's they'd sell quite well. Just because Steve thought games were trivial Apple ignored them for years for various reasons. Good thing they didn't listen to Steve when it came to iPhone games. He hated the idea. I don't think iPhone or iPad would be the same without them. Games have their place. Even if it's just high end for enthusiasts and developers ; that's how you create a market. It would be nice to see Apple open up the gaming market to their Mac lineup and not just iOS. It could be very symbiotic.