Meta’s gaming venture: Microsoft and Meta have come together to launch a special edition Meta Quest VR headset, drawing inspiration from the Xbox gaming ecosystem. While specifics regarding this collaboration remain undisclosed, it appears to entail a Meta Quest 3 variant, or a yet-to-be-revealed iteration, bundled with an Xbox controller.

Meta announced this partnership on April 23, as part of its initiative to extend its Horizon OS to third-party hardware manufacturers. While Asus and Lenovo are crafting dedicated headsets running on the Meta Horizon OS, the collaboration with Microsoft appears to focus on a limited-edition headset, akin to Microsoft's approach with exclusive Xbox consoles.

In an Instagram announcement, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg revealed that the teased headset will include Xbox controllers and access to Game Pass right out of the box, allowing users to seamlessly dive into gaming experiences on a large screen from any location.

Microsoft's journey with VR on the Xbox platform has been somewhat checkered, prompting closer ties with Meta in recent times. Despite early concepts such as Kinect Glasses (Project Fortaleza) in 2012, which did not materialise with the Xbox One launch, and ambitions for VR support with the Xbox One X, Microsoft's dedicated VR efforts did not materialise.

However, following the setback of its Windows Mixed Reality endeavours, Microsoft shifted focus to deeper collaboration with Meta. This manifested in features like Word, Excel, and PowerPoint integration into VR for Quest users, alongside the introduction of Xbox Cloud Gaming on Quest VR headsets last year.