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Microsoft On Using Its HoloLens Or The Oculus Rift With Xbox One
HoloLens and Xbox One are both a focus of Microsoft's 2016 Build Developer Conference, and we spoke with Xbox's head of advanced technology group, Jason Ronald, about whether we can expect the two to ever intersect.
We asked Ronald about the likelihood of being able to plug a HoloLens device into an Xbox One in the future, and though there are no immediate plans, Ronald offered a vague, but optimistic answer. “I think we’re early in the days of HoloLens and how do we provide those great rich, experiences," Ronald said. "From my perspective, I think the future is wide open as we continue to innovate on the hardware and the sort of experiences we can deliver, I think there all kinds of opportunities ahead of us.”
Ronald also addressed a similar question about the Oculus Rift, pointing out that Microsoft is partnered with Oculus for the VR future, even if it has no immediate announcements. "I think VR is in a space we’re very interested in. We’re partnered with the various HMD manufacturers. Obviously with Oculus, we’re shipping an Xbox One controller with it and we announced we’re releasing Minecraft on it. VR is still an emerging area we’re very interested in. We don’t have any announcements specific to VR running on an Xbox One," Ronald said. "The most graphically rich VR applications run best on higher-end PCs. It’s really about the spectrum of the VR experiences. Obviously, VR runs on devices like a Gear VR on a cellphone device, all the way up to a $4,000 to $6,000 PC rig. There’s no reason [Xbox One] wouldn’t run those experiences, but we don’t have anything specific to the Xbox to announce.”
HoloLens devices are currently going out to developers as of today.
Our Take
HoloLens seems like a no-brainer for Xbox One, as long as it finds an audience, takes off, and developers make some interesting game-focused experiences for it. Oculus on Xbox One, would certainly make Microsoft competitive with PlayStation VR. I have to wonder if Microsoft is waiting to see if Oculus takes off before it even starts considering knocking on that door.
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