Alongside the launch of the Oculus Go headset today, Oculus announced that it is working on a new element of its in-headset experience that will appeal to users interested in binging TV inside VR.
It’s called Oculus TV and the company hopes that it will evolve to become a quick-and-easy way for VR users, by themselves or with friends, to dive into video content from streaming partners. The app puts a TV experience into your virtual environment with specially adapted on-screen controls, which essentially turn the virtual screen in the virtual room into a sort of Chromecast or Apple TV-like experience.
It’s still early for the streaming service, which will support Facebook Watch, Red Bull TV and Pluto TV directly integrated at launch. The company says it is currently working with networks to bring native integrations, but given that Netflix, Hulu and Showtime already have standalone apps in the Oculus store, this could be a challenge as VR viewership for them is likely quite tiny. You’ll still be able to dive into these apps from the Oculus TV interface, but it’ll just send you to that app rather than being an on-screen interface.
Oculus didn’t have this feature quite ready for F8, but the company says Oculus TV will be launching later this month for Oculus Go.
