PokerStars VR to be launch title for Meta’s new mixed reality headset
High-end Quest Pro device to retail for £1,499, or almost four times the price of the entry-level Quest 2 VR kit
PokerStars has revealed that its VR product, PokerStars VR, will be a launch title for the new Quest Pro mixed reality device from Meta, formerly known as Facebook.
The Flutter-owned poker brand’s VR offering, which is a free-to-play product, is one of a select number of games chosen to accompany the rollout of the new headset.
The developers behind PokerStars VR – Lucky VR – are said to have been working on enhancing the existing VR poker room to take advantage of mixed reality, the merging of the real world and a computer-generated environment.
PokerStars VR was first released in 2018 for Facebook’s Oculus Rift VR headset and allowed players to ante-up for fun in 3D environments.
The Quest Pro was unveiled by Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg yesterday at an online event for developers where it was talked up as “making the metaverse a reality”.
The flagship headset, which comes with a hefty price tag of £1,499, or almost four times the price of Meta’s Quest 2 (£399), allows the user to see their actual surroundings around the periphery of the screen.
It comes equipped with thinner lenses than the Quest 2 and a curved battery around the head strap, while the upgraded controllers are self-tracking. The Quest Pro goes on sale on 25 October.
Flutter said the “sophisticated face and eye-tracking” will bring a “brand-new social dimension to PokerStars VR”.
The offering will include free-to-play poker cash games, multi-table Sit & Go tournaments and the lottery-style jackpot format, Spin and Go’s.
And just like the current PokerStars VR product, it will include Casino One, the recently launched free-to-play social casino featuring roulette, blackjack, slots and craps.
Discussing PokerStars’ involvement in the Quest Pro launch, James O’Reilly, director of VR and innovation at PokerStars, said: “Our goal with PokerStars VR is to push the potential of new technologies as far as we can to create a fun and authentic social casino game that really is limitless.
“We’re extremely proud to be part of the launch of Meta’s Quest Pro, which is a transformation in virtual and mixed reality.
“Our developers have been having great fun exploring what this technology means for our players and we can’t wait to show them what we have in store.”
While VR has struggled to go mainstream, mixed reality is being touted as where the future for this kind of technology lies.
Apple is rumoured to be working on developing a mixed reality headset of its own with more than a dozen cameras for functions such as eye tracking and expression detection.