- Samsung’s XR headset could get first-party controllers
- It is not known if they will be included in the box with the headset
- It is also not known what design controllers will have
Samsung and Google’s XR headset at the moment known as Project Moohan-Formes to be an Apple Vision Pro competitor with advanced specifications (such as a rumored OLED DISPLAY) and a slender design, but it also seems to avoid its rivals’ greatest boom: lack of first-party controllers.
Samsung had already confirmed that the headset would be compatible with both controllers and hand movements when it announced the device, but now reveals a report from Sammobile that Samsung will make its own first-party hand sets-after the publication discovered references to controllers with the model number ET-OI610.
It is unclear what form these controllers will take – they may look as default VR movement controls or more like a gamepad – and we don’t know anymore until design delicious, or Samsung officially shows them.
It is also not clear whether they are sending with the headset or as an addition, but I seriously hope that Samsung puts them in the box and does not repeat the mistake made by Apple with his Vision Pro headset.
A controller disaster
The Apple Vision Pro had several mistakes, but perhaps the biggest unfair mistake was Apple’s decision not to send it with controllers as it is standard for its XR competitors. This one decision is the biggest reason why Vision Pro is hard missing Tentpole XR software that you can find elsewhere – and why it took so long for a handful of titles to get their way to the system.
When I have talked to XR software developers who have created games and apps for Meta Quest, Steam and Vive platforms, the biggest challenge they told me they face Vision Pro is its lack of controllers. In addition, Vision Pro uses a somewhat tailor -made version of hand tracking that depends on eye tracking, making its control arrangement almost completely different from any other platform.
Generally, porting software is from one XR headset to another equal-there are some things that need to be changed based on specifications, but the core play or the app can remain pretty much as is. Because Vision Pro is so different in its control arrangement, I was told that for many games and apps it would be as easy to create a whole new title as it would be to have an existing one designed for another VR headset, given the amount of redesign that would be required-and it would be both time consuming and expensive for developers.
Although it seems that Samsung and Google will avoid the overall problem by at least producing first -party controllers, they could still manage to shoot themselves in the foot as the reports do not say if the first -party controllers will be included in the box.
Not to include controllers is likely to leave a bad taste in customers’ mouths and possibly affect sales, which can also be a problem for developers. The Android XR device is expected to be pretty expensive, and nickel-and-diming buyers by asking them to pay extra for controllers would not be ideal.
For the time being, we will have to wait and see what Samsung has up to the sleeve.
