Although the VR fitness community has been perhaps a bit niche in recent years, it looks like those in charge over at Oculus and its parent company Facebook are trying to grow the space even more. How are they doing this, you might ask? Well, it looks as though Oculus is very much trying to lean more heavily into the fitness aspects that VR headsets can offer, especially with its new Quest 2 device.
Within recent weeks, Facebook has been placing a number of new ads and billboards around the country selling the Oculus Quest 2 as a piece of tech that can help keep you in shape. “Own a gym, boxing ring, dance studio, and climbing wall for $299,” said one ad that Facebook placed in a prominent print newspaper. Other billboards have gone on to assert that “Ellipticals are hamster wheels for humans,” and has encouraged potential customers to pick up the Oculus Quest 2 instead. Other billboards said that treadmills are a “road to nowhere” and that there is “nothing” fun about rowing machines. Each ad also ended with the tagline, “Fitness is fun on Quest 2.”
As a whole, the new campaign from Facebook seems to be targeting the audience that isn’t currently aware of just what the Oculus Quest 2 is capable of when it comes to fitness. It also leans into the notion that working out doesn’t have to be a boring activity. Thanks to numerous games within the Oculus Quest library, staying in shape can now be more enjoyable than ever before.
This new commitment to the fitness-focused aspects of the Oculus Quest 2 have even continued to be honed in on by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. In a recent statement that Zuckerberg shared on Facebook, the iconic tech figure talked about how Oculus is growing quickly in the fitness space.”One interesting VR trend is how quickly it’s growing beyond just games. Some of the top apps on Quest are social apps, and there’s a growing number of productivity tools (both for collaboration and solo use, like Infinite Office), creativity tools (like the DJ app Tribe XR), and even fitness apps (like FitXR and Supernatural),” he explained.
With all of this in mind, Zuckerberg then went on to announce that Facebook is going to do even more for users and developer who are looking to use games of this type. “To support creators building these different experiences, today we’re launching subscriptions for Quest apps,” Zuckerberg announced. “So now you’ll be able to buy a subscription to FitXR for boxing and dancing in VR just like you would for a Peloton bike, and much more.”
This move is surely one that will make the VR fitness space that much more accessible than it has ever been, which is only good news moving forward. While VR might have been an expensive and daunting field to engrain yourself in only a few years ago, it looks as though many of those barriers are starting to come down as time goes on.
As a whole, those of us who have already been privy to the fitness perks of virtual reality and devices like the Oculus Quest 2 should be thrilled to see Facebook putting more money and focus into this subsection of the community. It very much goes to show that the future of VR fitness is only going to continue to get bigger as time goes on.
So while you might be very much set in your ways with your VR workout habits right now, it looks like things are only going to continue to change and expand as the years pass. With more developers and consumers continuing to dive deep into the world of VR fitness, it stands to reason that the future of this niche space is due for an explosion in the near future.
