Google Dropped Plans To Make its Own VR Headset

You would think with all the excitement Google would be one of the next big tech companies to announce their own hardware. Turns out, they were considering just that. A new report from Recode reveals that Google was once working on stand-alone VR hardware — not just a successor to the Cardboard, but something on the same level as the Rift and Vive.

If this prospect sounds exciting to you, it's unfortunately followed by bad news. Recode's sources have said that Google ended up ditching these plans, and instead chose to focus on the mobile VR market, moving ahead withDaydream, the Android-based platform that was announced at the I/O event this year.

The report doesn't reveal the exact reason Google dropped the project or how far into development it was, but it seems it was being handled by around 50 employees at the experimental X labs division. Not only was the headset its own standalone device — not needing a smartphone like Cardboard — but it was powered by its own operating system, separate from Android.

Unlike in the full-fledged headset segment, Google already has a strong head start in mobile with its Cardboard, which is why Daydream is a much more natural evolution.

At Google I/O in May, Google announced Daydream, a VR platform a part of Android N. It doesn't come out until the fall, however Google has given developers access to start building. Daydream includes a set of guidelines for developers on the specs that work for the best virtual reality experience.

In a similar move to its mobile phone development, Google wants to build the apps, games, and service around VR, rather than the VR hardware itself.

SOURCE Recode