Grade: A
AC thVRsday
In his weekly column, Android Central Senior Content material Producer Nick Sutrich delves into all issues VR, from new {hardware} to new video games, upcoming applied sciences, and a lot extra.
Final 12 months was pivotal for big-name VR releases, and whereas a few of that continued into 2025 with titles like Deadpool VR, Alien: Rogue Incursion, Thief VR: Legacy of Shadows, and extra, the actual winners have been the indies. That is as a result of, for no matter cause, Meta Quest avid gamers appear to primarily gravitate towards smaller titles that get massive phrase of mouth on social media.
Working example is Animal Firm, which garnered “over 1 billion views organically” on TikTok, in keeping with a Meta developer profile weblog submit. That drove it to realize the Fifth-highest first-year income for a VR recreation, boasting over 1 million lively month-to-month customers and spawning a ton of clones. UG VR is one other success story following the identical mould of free-to-play titles with in-app DLC content material.
The shift has made smaller groups glad, but it surely’s additionally pushed a number of corporations out of enterprise. Meta laid off a number of staff throughout its first-party VR growth studios, and we additionally noticed studio closures at established homes like Toast Interactive and WIMO Video games. The silver lining right here is that the Quest as soon as once more outsold most main consoles this Black Friday/Cyber Monday, in keeping with publicly out there data, a pattern that is been a daily vacation custom for years now.
All of this got here to a head in early December when Meta determined to slice 30% of Actuality Labs’ funds beginning in January 2026, a transfer that had been a very long time coming because the division’s spending had grown uncontrolled through the years, whereas different Meta departments have taken 10% year-over-year cuts since 2022.
Whereas that sounds unhealthy initially, it is paving the way in which for a greater, leaner Meta Quest. Two lead product and UI designers from Apple joined Meta in early December, and phrase on the road is that they’re going to have a hand in redesigning the Quest UI and in making the Quest 4 an ultra-light, modern, gaming-first headset.
We’re additionally seeing this shift as a result of Meta lastly has some actual competitors within the sector. Apple launched a souped-up Imaginative and prescient Professional with a refreshed chipset and a extra comfy headstrap in August. Plus, Samsung lastly launched the Galaxy XR headset alongside Android XR.
And to make issues even higher, we received to attempt Android XR operating on Xreal’s Challenge Aura sensible glasses, that are set to launch in 2026. That is a full VR headset working system on a pair of sunshine and cozy sensible glasses, and it should be an enormous game-changer subsequent 12 months.
To prime issues off, Valve even introduced a brand new VR headset referred to as the Steam Body. Body runs a brand new model of SteamOS that is able to not solely operating Home windows VR video games on a cellular chipset, but additionally Android video games natively, as properly. It is anticipated to make massive waves, you guessed it, in early 2026.
The 12 months sensible glasses received
The VR trade has by no means appeared busier, however the sensible glasses phase has by no means seen the success it had till 2025. Ray-Ban Meta Sensible Glasses have been the inflection level the trade wanted, and Meta doubled down on its efforts to rule this phase for years to return.
The corporate ramped up manufacturing of its glasses again in February, then launched a bevy of latest glasses to glowing evaluations within the fall. Ray-Ban Gen 2, Oakley Meta HSTN, Oakley Meta Vanguard, and Meta Ray-Ban Show Glasses all made big waves and sure even higher gross sales, solidifying Meta because the de facto sensible glasses firm after years of spending billions on R&D.
However the actual standout was Meta Ray-Ban Show Glasses. These are the primary consumer-ready pair of Meta’s sensible glasses with a show, and whereas they’re costly, they mark a pivotal level within the sensible glasses race.
This was additionally the 12 months we noticed Google get severe about sensible glasses once more. We received our fingers on Google and Samsung’s prototype sensible glasses again in Might, and a follow-up Android XR occasion in December gave us even higher perception into the corporate’s massive plans for 2026.
However that does not simply imply AI glasses to compete with Ray-Ban and Oakley Meta sensible glasses; it additionally means using partnerships with present sensible glasses corporations. Magic Leap sensible glasses powered by Android XR have been proven off in October and can compete with Meta Ray-Ban Show Glasses, and Xreal Challenge Aura goes straight for the throat with a full VR UI in a snug pair of sensible glasses.
Talking of Xreal, the corporate launched the finest sensible show glasses we have seen to this point all the way in which again in February, and the competitors hasn’t been capable of sustain since.
Xreal One sensible show glasses look much like earlier Xreal glasses from the skin, however they arrive full of the primary devoted chipset for a pair like these, enabling spatial monitoring for any gadget you plug them into. That is a game-changer as a result of it means the digital show appears to be like and looks like an actual show, anchored in bodily area, regardless of how you progress.
Viture launched the Luma line, culminating in the Luma Extremely, and whereas they do not supply native spatial monitoring like Xreal’s glasses, they’ll give your Change 2 an OLED on the go when paired with a Viture Professional Cellular Dock. And when paired with the Spacewalker cellular or PC apps, they’ll flip any 2D video into 3D utilizing AI.
Rokid launched new AR glasses, with a second, extra highly effective pair teased in September. And people on the lookout for an inexpensive pair of sensible show glasses can lastly decide up $250 RayNeo fashions that do not really feel like a compromise.
The wearable pc phase has taken a bit longer to “get good” than most tech pundits would have preferred. However 2025 has confirmed that good issues take time, and XR wearables are positively getting actually, actually good.
The most effective 12 months since 2020
The final time we noticed this stage of curiosity and pleasure in VR (and XR as an entire) was again in 2020, when COVID saved everybody house, and the Oculus Quest 2 revolutionized VR gaming. Whereas a big variety of bulletins towards the latter half of the 12 months will not materialize till early 2026, none of these merchandise are vaporware, they usually characterize important enhancements in Meta’s competitors.
But it surely was additionally the 12 months Meta continued to solidify its dominance throughout VR and sensible glasses. The corporate has spent greater than some other on this class, and it exhibits. Fortunately, that stranglehold in the marketplace hasn’t produced poor merchandise. Fairly, Meta’s consistency has spurred competitors, even in corporations like Google, which we have been very certain would by no means launch one other pair of sensible glasses or VR headsets till Android XR was introduced.
In the event you’re a VR fanatic, thrilling occasions are forward as Meta, Valve, Apple, and Google goal to push the boundaries of what we have come to count on from standalone {hardware}. And anybody on the lookout for an awesome pair of sensible glasses already has a number of to select from, with the correct killer pair of AR glasses (Xreal Challenge Aura) seemingly simply across the nook.
