- Samsung’s XR headset could get first-party controllers
- It’s not known if they’ll be included in the box with the headset
- It’s also not known what design the controllers will have
Samsung and Google’s XR headset – currently known as Project Moohan – is shaping up to be an Apple Vision Pro competitor with high-end specs (like a rumored OLED display) and a sleek design, but it also looks set to avoid its rival’s biggest blunder: a lack of first-party controllers.
Samsung had already confirmed the headset would be compatible with both controllers and hand gestures when it announced the device, but now a report from SamMobile reveals that Samsung will be making its own first-party handsets – after the publication discovered references to controllers with the model number ET-OI610.
It’s unclear what form these controllers will take – they could look like standard VR motion controllers or more like a gamepad – and we won’t know more until designs leak or Samsung shows them off officially.
It also isn’t clear if they’ll ship with the headset or as an add-on, but I seriously hope Samsung puts them in the box, and doesn’t repeat the mistake made by Apple with its Vision Pro headset.
A controller catastrophe
The Apple Vision Pro had several faults, but perhaps the biggest unforced error was Apple’s decision to not ship it with controllers, as is standard for its XR competitors. This one decision is the biggest reason why the Vision Pro sorely lacked tentpole XR software that you can find elsewhere – and why it took so long for a handful of titles to make their way to the system.
When I’ve spoken to XR software developers who have created games and apps for the Meta Quest, Steam, and Vive platforms, the biggest challenge they told me they face with the Vision Pro is its lack of controllers. Moreover, the Vision Pro uses a somewhat bespoke version of hand-tracking which relies on eye-tracking, making its control scheme almost entirely different to any other platform’s.
Generally, porting software from one XR headset to another is straightforward – there are some things that need to be changed based on specs, but the core game or app can remain pretty much as-is. Because the Vision Pro is so different in its control scheme 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 port an existing one designed for a different VR headset, given the amount of redesigning that would be required – and that would be both time-consuming and costly for developers.
While it appears that Samsung and Google will dodge the overarching issue by at least producing first-party controllers, they could still manage to shoot themselves in the foot, as the reports don’t say whether the first-party controllers will be included in the box.
Not including the controllers is likely to leave a bad taste in customers’ mouths and might impact sales, which could also be an issue for developers. The Android XR device is expected to be fairly pricey, and nickel-and-diming buyers by asking them to pay extra for controllers wouldn’t be ideal.
For now, we’ll have to wait and see what Samsung has up its sleeve.
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