As part of Apple's yearly Worldwide Developer’s Conference, the tech behemoth unveiled its long-anticipated mixed reality headset. The newly titled Vision Pro steps into the market at a whopping $3,500 starting price, though the tech specs it boasts are very impressive. With the custom micro-OLED display featuring over 23 million pixels, Apple’s powerful M2 chip, and a brand new R1 chip for processing external inputs, the Vision Pro puts competitors like Meta Quest and PSVR to shame from a computing perspective.
However, Apple’s key WWDC spot made it clear that gaming would not be a priority. Compared to the Meta Quests, which were initially launched as VR gaming consoles before being pushed as workplace solutions, Apple is taking the opposite route. The Vision Pro is meant to be the next step in modern computing, just like how the iPhone changed mobile computing, with workplace solutions at the forefront rather than gaming.
Vision Pro is Geared Toward Work, Not Play
Apple’s Vision Pro is undoubtedly impressive, but the 30+ minute reveal at 2023’s WWDC made it clear that the Vision Pro is a tool meant for the workplace, not necessarily for gaming. As one example, the downside of the Vision Pro’s souped-up specs is that it requires an external battery and cord that has to be lugged around, making the setup a bit clunky for gamers. There’s still plenty of fun to be had, but Apple's initial marketing has been toward workers and employers looking for AR solutions, not VR gamers.
It should be noted that Hideo Kojima received his own featured spot to announce that Death Stranding would be coming to the Vision Pro, but that was essentially the only reference to its gaming capabilities. Compared to its main competitor, Meta’s Quest headsets, the lack of gaming features and hefty price point have proven that Apple is going in a different direction.
Additionally, the initial presentation did not reveal any true VR assets, with Apple instead focusing on AR features more helpful in a workplace. Death Stranding is not a new, VR version of the game, but rather just the console version played on a virtual screen within the Vision Pro’s ecosystem. For the price this headset starts at, it’s a bit baffling that Apple won’t be supporting hit VR games like Beat Saber.
Apple's Gaming Reputation
For all of Apple’s many successes, the tech giant has never been able to get a beat on the gaming industry. The prevalence of iPhones brought mobile gaming to the forefront of people’s minds, but it dropped the ball with the games themselves, falling far behind the Nintendo Switch, Steam Deck, and even Xbox and PlayStation’s mobile and cloud streaming options.
Apple made a concerted effort to jump into the gaming space when it launched Apple Arcade in 2019. It was meant to be a competitor to subscription services like Xbox Game Pass and PlayStation Plus, but its lack of titles and long-term strategy have made it fall by the wayside. Several games have lost support just months after launching on Apple Arcade, making the service seem more like a place old games go to die once Apple has squeezed out some subscription money.
On top of the lack of an exclusive library, Apple is also notoriously unfriendly to third-party game developers. Apple infamously got into a legal battle with Epic Games over revenue sharing, leading Epic to take its games off of Apple devices. Even before that, the Epic Games Launcher was debilitatingly buggy on Macs. And while users can download Steam for MacOS devices, the game library is extremely limited. Similar to the Epic Games Launcher, the ones they do have often freeze up in the middle of gameplay. Add in the lack of customizability on Apple’s computers, and it’s clear that desktop gamers are much better off buying a PC.
Apple could have a very lucrative future in gaming, but the first version of the Vision Pro will not be pushing it in that direction. Hardcore Apple users may find all the benefits of the Vision Pro worth the price. However, looking at it strictly from a gaming perspective, the Vision Pro has cemented itself as a luxury item rather than the next gaming essential.