Copyright 2021 UVR Media LLC.
PlutoSphere is launching today in early access on SideQuest offering a path to play PC VR content like Half-Life: Alyx and Boneworks on Meta Quest and future standalones without the requirement of owning a PC.
The service is available starting today from Pluto VR on SideQuest: “PlutoSphere supports Oculus Quest and Quest 2 during our limited launch, but will eventually support additional hardware,” the SideQuest listing says. “Steam comes pre-installed with PlutoSphere, but any PC games or apps you already own on other platforms will also be accessible to you. Install any other Windows apps you want.”
A press release from Pluto VR adds that “users can access their Steam and Epic Games Store libraries.”
We did a short demo of the service last year and said “it essentially felt identical to using Virtual Desktop on a local network with a PC. If you’re fine with that kind of latency you’ll probably be fine with services like PlutoSphere.” We have yet to take the newest version of PlutoSphere for a trip into some our favorite PC VR titles just yet, but we plan to soon and will report back our findings.
We also sat down in our virtual recording studio with Pluto VR co-founder Forest Gibson:
Gibson notes that VRChat seems to be popular among early PlutoSphere users alongside the aforementioned physics-based powerhouses.
“It’s really a different experience to be on the VRChat version of the Quest client versus the PC client,” he told us. “You kind of feel like you’re a second class citizen because you get lower quality avatars. You don’t have access to the same worlds. And so surprisingly, we’ve actually seen a lot of people really like that.”
For best results, you’ll need “a 50 Mbps Internet connection, 5 GHz WiFi 6 Router” and “Early Access users can use the service for free for a limited time each day with the option to purchase more time via Pluto tokens,” according to Pluto.
Prices might fluctuate, but Gibson told us they are taking an “arcade model” approach to pricing with tokens that “boils down to around $1-$3 USD per hour depending on how many tokens are purchased at a time.” Prices are listed here.
You can find our guide to sideloading and SideQuest here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LlIavqmyq1A
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Ian Hamilton is a journalist based in Arkansas and managing editor at UploadVR. He’s covered VR full-time since 2015 as well as Oculus VR since 2012. He is interested in the people creating VR and AR hardware and software, their motivations, and how that work affects the people who spend significant time in simulations. If you have information to pass along you can send him a direct message on Twitter, Facebook or via email.
Copyright 2021 UVR Media LLC. All RIGHTS RESERVED.
