Category Archives: Games

After Ditching Meta Headset Plans, Asus Partners with XREAL on ROG AR Glasses with 240Hz Display

Posted on by

While the long-awaited Quest-style VR headset from Asus has been put on ice, the Taiwanese tech giant announced it has now partnered with XREAL on a pair of AR glasses for traditional gaming, which boast an impressive 240Hz refresh rate.

The News

In 2024, Asus and Lenovo announced they were creating Quest-style VR headsets running Horizon OS—the first third-party devices to do so. However last month, we learned that deal has been indefinitely “paused”.

At CES 2026 this week, Asus Republic of Gamers (ROG) announced it’s partnering with XREAL to release a pair of “gaming glasses” that feature dual 1,920 x 1,080 240Hz microOLED displays: ROG XREAL R1.

Similar to XREAL One Pro, the glasses are slated to offer a 57° field of view via its birdbath optics, 3DOF tracking, electrochromic tinting, and Sound by Bose audio.

ROG XREAL R1 is also shipping with an external ‘ROG Control Dock’ that extends connectivity to PCs and consoles with the addition of one DisplayPort 1.4 port and two HDMI 2.0 ports. Notably, it can also connect directly to supported USB-C devices, such as ROG Ally.

Image courtesy Asus ROG

Like XREAL One Pro, Asus says ROG XREAL R1 serves up the equivalent of a 171-inch virtual screen at 4 meters, substantively making its 240Hz refresh microOLEDs the major outlying difference between the two; XREAL One Pro ($650) only features 120Hz refresh.

Asus hasn’t mentioned pricing or release date yet, however ROG XREAL R1 is expected to ship globally in the first half of 2026.

Check out the spec sheet below:

ROG XREAL R1 Specs

Display
Sony 0.55-inch micro-OLED
Resolution 1,920 x 1,080
Refresh rate 240Hz
Field of view (FOV) 57°
Motion-to-photon latency 2ms
Peak brightness 700 nits
Color gamut 107% sRGB
3 Degrees of Freedom (DoF)
Native 3DoF, 6DoF supported
Adjustable lens transparency
3-level adjustable
Digital IPD adjustment Yes
Audio Sound by Bose
Weight 91g

ROG Control Dock Specs

I/O ports (Input)
2 x HDMI® 2.0
1 x DisplayPort™ 1.4
I/O port (Output) 1 x USB-C®
Video resolution 4K@60Hz
Dimensions
215 x 100 x 25mm
Weight 230g

My Take

When Asus and Lenovo announced last year they were working with Meta to create their own XR headsets running Horizon OS, the game plan was pretty clear: ROG would appeal to enthusiast VR gamers while Lenovo would hone in on productivity, and maybe even enterprise.

And I’ll admit, I didn’t really know what that meant at the time. Neither company had the leeway to meaningfully change the underlying Quest 3 hardware without fracturing the Horizon OS ecosystem, which is mostly now geared to content made specifically for Quest 3 and 3S, both of which run the Qualcomm Snapdragon XR2 Gen 2.

Quest 3S Xbox Edition | Image courtesy Meta, Microsoft

Light speculation: this essentially left Asus hamstrung. The company may have been faced with creating little more than an expensive, flashier Quest 3 running the same chipset—with maybe even the same resolution displays, and little else. Whatever the case, it was always going to be difficult to compete against Meta’s own subsidized first-party headsets without having a clear path towards differentiation.

Asus and Lenovo exiting the partnership may have come down to a shift in the overall competitive landscape. In 2024, getting third-party manufacturers in the mix was supposed to be Meta’s new ethos as the ‘open’ XR alternative—a foil to Vision OS, which, in Apple style, is a monolithic platform that will never be open to anyone but the Cupertino tech giant itself.

That ‘open’ ethos seems to be more of Google’s game with Android XR though—its opening salvo being the recently released Samsung Galaxy XR. I’d expect more Android XR-running headsets to come eventually too.

Meanwhile, Meta seems to be shifting the bulk of Reality Labs’ focus to developing AR and smart glasses, which feels especially relevant since ROG has decided to back long-time AR glasses maker XREAL instead of, say, announcing it was creating an Android XR headset in the vein of Quest.

The post After Ditching Meta Headset Plans, Asus Partners with XREAL on ROG AR Glasses with 240Hz Display appeared first on Road to VR.

Pistol Whip Developer Cloudhead Lays Off 70 Percent Of Staff

Posted on by

The Canada-based development studio that describes itself as “VR’s Creative Heart” laid off 70 percent of its staff.

CEO Denny Unger of Cloudhead Games released a statement announcing deep cuts at the studio behind Pistol Whip and The Gallery.

“Due to industry forces beyond our control, Cloudhead must make the difficult choice to reduce our workforce effective January 7th 2026. 30% of us will remain to continue the mission,” a note from Unger reads. “Our belief remains in the power of VR as a medium, as a shared dream machine that will one day transform humanity. We have no doubt VR’s mainstream relevance is predestined, with future devices that do “everything”, but it will take studios like ours to be there when that time comes.”

Unger promised further updates about the “challenges and potential opportunities of our industry” while posting a document titled “reverse recruitment” with contact details for more than 30 staffers departing Cloudhead in the layoffs. Most are based in Canada and list a preference for a remote job.

16 people remain at Cloudhead following the cuts, according to Unger.

Cloudhead released Pistol Whip in 2019 to wide acclaim. I rated it “fantastic” at launch and, in the years after, the studio stacked on considerable updates including multiple campaigns and even a “growing library of explosive Scenes created by the Pistol Whip modding community directly in-game.” At $29.99 today on Steam, Quest, and PlayStation VR2, the title remains a fantastic cinematic action experience delivered in one big package rather than metered out as paid DLCs.

Pistol Whip is also a member of Meta’s Horizon+ subscription games program and the title is offered at a discount with new membership in Sony’s program. A large number of other top tier VR developers have their games in those games programs, which have helped supplement income from sales in the past.

We’ll be curious to hear more from Unger about his particular path at Cloudhead. In 2019, the studio was buoyed by the development of Aperture Hand Lab for Valve as a sampler experience for the Valve Index. With Steam Frame around the corner, Cloudhead will have a new surface for Pistol Whip sales in 2026, but the layoffs would suggest no partnership materialized for a project specific to the system.

The layoffs are unlikely to be the last major reduction in the VR space for an experienced development studio – Myst creator Cyan let half go last year among many others – as creative groups continue to be shocked by shifting platform priorities.

Please reach out to ian@uploadvr.com if you have anything to share regarding funding and recruitment in the VR and AR space.

Apple Immersive Lakers Schedule Reserves Live NBA Games For Local Viewers

Posted on by

Apple revealed six upcoming Lakers games broadcasting live in Apple Immersive format to local Vision Pro owners.

The live schedule broadcasts from several angles at the Crypto.com Arena with one game from Ball Arena. Some angles are closer than a courtside seat with wide field of view stereoscopic views including “the scorer’s table, the area beneath each basket, a high-and-wide view of the arena, the player tunnel, the broadcast booth, and a roaming courtside perspective for interviews and commentary.” We’ll be curious to see how Lakers fans feel watching these games live as they air simultaneously on TV for most others.

Here’s the schedule:

  • Friday, January 9 – Milwaukee Bucks vs. Los Angeles Lakers – 7:30 p.m. PT
  • Thursday, February 5 – Philadelphia 76ers vs. Los Angeles Lakers – 7 p.m. PT
  • Friday, February 20 – Los Angeles Clippers vs. Los Angeles Lakers – 7 p.m. PT
  • Thursday, March 5 – Los Angeles Lakers at Denver Nuggets – 7 p.m. PT
  • Tuesday, March 10 – Minnesota Timberwolves vs. Los Angeles Lakers – 8 p.m. PT
  • Monday, March 30 – Washington Wizards vs. Los Angeles Lakers – 7 p.m. PT

NextVR’s full broadcasting schedule from 2016 is here on UploadVR for you to compare, with our report at the time noting that a free trial was offered ahead of the full broadcast schedule locked to NBA League Pass.

Here Is The NBA’s Full NextVR Live Broadcasting Schedule For This Season
NextVR has previously pulled in massive funding through big investment rounds, including $30 million and another 80 million, to continue live broadcasting in VR. Earlier this month we reported the startup took a major step forward, going into a full time stream schedule with the NBA. Now we have the
UploadVRCharles Singletary

Apple later acquired the “leading broadcaster of VR events” and the technology has been reborn as Apple Immersive, with the company investing heavily in broadcast rights and equipping sports venues with immersive camera systems that can offer better than a front row seat. In the case of “Spectrum Front Row” in 2026, Apple, the NBA, and Charter Communications require some authentication to view a live broadcast in headset.

“In Southern California, Hawaii, and parts of Nevada, Spectrum Internet customers and video subscribers of any provider with a package that includes Spectrum SportsNet can access live games, full-game replays, and highlights by downloading the new Spectrum SportsNet app for Apple Vision Pro and authenticating their active subscription. Users with a free NBA ID will also have access to live games, full-game replays, and highlights via the NBA app.”

After-game replays should be available in markets where Apple Vision Pro is sold as early as 24 hours after each live game, with the first available on Sunday, January 11.

Asymmetric PC vs. VR Game ‘Panoptic’ is Getting a Sequel with 1v4 Multiplayer and Quest Support

Posted on by

Panoptic (2020) is an innovative ‘PC vs. VR’ game that plays out like a game of 1v1 hide-and-seek, with one VR player seeking out a flatscreen PC player who tries to blend into the crowd. Now the studio behind the game has announced Panoptic II and says it plans to expand the game with up to 1v4 multiplayer and make the game more widely accessible with support for Quest 3 and mobile devices.

The News

Developer Team Panoptes announced Panoptic II late last month in a livestream where the studio elaborated on plans for the game.

The studio confirmed that Panoptic II will continue to be designed around a singular VR player who acts as the ‘seeker’. But the studio plans to make the game accessible for larger groups and on more platforms than the original.

Instead of a single non-VR as the ‘hider’, Panoptic II is said to support up to four non-VR players who can work together to outwit the seeker. And this time around the non-VR players will join the game from mobile devices (presumably iOS and Android), making the game more accessible than the original game which required the non-VR player to play on the same PC being used by the VR player.

That new approach to non-VR players also stands to make Panoptic II more accessible to VR users; the studio says it has plans to bring the game to PC and, for the first time, Quest 3 as well.

Team Panoptes tells Road to VR that the gameplay loop will be expanded from the first game, and include brand new maps.

The studio is aiming to fund development of Panoptic II with crowdfunding support via a Patreon campaign, and says it plans to release early versions of the game closed testing, with a first build expected in Q1.

My Take

Panoptic’s asymmetric PC vs. VR gameplay is undoubtedly niche, but incredibly fun. During the Covid pandemic, friends and I spent many hours playing the game remotely using Discord and Steam’s ‘Remote Play Together’ feature.

Thanks to VR, the seeker’s embodied presence and giant scale feel exceptionally imposing to the tiny non-VR player, creating tense moments where a single slip-up could lead to a suspenseful cat-and-mouse chase. The seeker may be powerful, but with roaming NPCs that look identical to real non-VR player, there’s many opportunities to blend in and outwit the seeker.

For as unique and enjoyable as the gameplay was, the technical structure of Panoptic (a multiplayer game where both the VR and non-VR player are expected to play from the same PC) made it minimally accessible.

Panoptic II’s approach should make the game considerably more accessible. Not only because it will add support for Quest 3, but also because non-VR players will be able to join from their phones. With any luck, the phone version of the game will be ‘free’, which would turn the Quest 3 version of Panoptic II into a portable party game.

Back when I was playing with my friends over Discord, it was easy for the non-VR players to take turns being the ‘hider’. But as the only one with local access to the VR headset, I was the only one who got to play the role of the seeker. With the purported changes to Panoptic II, I’m already looking forward to being able to take my Quest anywhere and pass it around to friends so they can finally experience the other side of the game.

The post Asymmetric PC vs. VR Game ‘Panoptic’ is Getting a Sequel with 1v4 Multiplayer and Quest Support appeared first on Road to VR.