Meta Connect 2022 will kick off at 10am PT / 1pm ET / 6pm BST on October 11 (3am AEST on October 12), and we can’t wait to see what Mark Zuckerberg and his company have to show us at the opening keynote.
But if you’re eager to know what the Oculus Quest 2 creator will likely reveal right now – or wondering if the event is worth tuning into – we’ve put together our predictions based on the slew of official announcements we've heard, along with assorted leaks and teasers.
Here’s what you should expect from Meta Connect 2022…
Project Cambria
We’ll almost certainly see Project Cambria in full at Meta Connect 2022. The headset was announced at last year's Connect event, with Meta promising that it would launch in 2022 – so it doesn't have long left if it's going to make good on that commitment.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has teased the announcement too. He said that we’d see Meta’s “next VR headset” in October during his appearance on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast, and on Instagram he shared a picture of himself wearing a headset we’ve never seen before with the caption “See you at Meta Connect on Oct 11.”
With its announcement all but guaranteed, what should we expect from Project Cambria?
Meta has been upfront that this will be a premium VR headset that's aimed at people after a high-end experience, so we expect to see some technical upgrades compared to the Oculus Quest 2, including more RAM, more storage, and better battery life.
The company has also said Project Cambria will get full-color passthrough – which will help to facilitate more immersive augmented reality experiences – and will have face and eye tracking, which among other benefits will help to make avatars more expressive.
As for the design, so far we’ve only seen an official silhouette of the headset, but it looks like it’ll be a fair bit slimmer than the Quest 2. Also, the controllers have lost their tracking rings, indicating that the headset will use a different method of keeping track of the handsets – most likely cameras built into the controllers.
Last but not least, the headset will most likely be called the Meta Quest Pro, based on leaks like one in September, when a person found several Project Cambria headsets in a hotel room and shared images online. As with all rumors that leak should be treated with caution, but the name and design match up with what we’re expecting to see on October 11.
Oculus Quest 2 game updates
What’s the use of new hardware if you’ve got nothing to play on it?
Alongside hardware announcements, expect to see several of the best Oculus Quest 2 games get their time in the spotlight too. We expect that several titles and experiences will introduce mixed-reality capabilities to take advantage of Project Cambria’s new color passthrough feature.
Meta has also already confirmed that it’ll be sharing details about some upcoming Horizon Worlds upgrades, via a post on Mark Zuckerberg’s Instagram, and we expect other Meta-owned titles, like Beat Saber, will get some stage time at Connect 2022; although with the Lizzo Music Pack only recently dropping for Beat Saber it might just be a re-announcement of that.
Beyond Meta’s own games, we’ll hopefully find out more about some hotly anticipated titles like GTA San Andreas VR, Among Us VR, and Ghostbusters VR among others. However, with this being Meta Connect, rather than the more game-focused Quest Gaming Showcase that was held in April, we don’t expect any major announcements on the software side – although we’ll be happy to be proved wrong.
The Oculus Quest 3?
With Project Cambria expected to be a high-end device, and the Pico 4 starting to muscle in on the Oculus Quest 2's territory, Meta may also use Connect to remind fans of its more budget-friendly hardware that they haven't been forgotten.
We don’t expect a full-on Oculus Quest 3 reveal, but we wouldn’t be surprised if Meta teased that headset, like it did with Project Cambria at Meta Connect 2021. By that we mean Meta will confirm that the device is in development, will tease us with a couple of details, and maybe show us a silhouette of the thing – and then say we won’t find out more until 2023.
We’ll have to wait until Meta Connect 2022 to know for certain what Meta will be showing off, so be sure to tune in, and check back here for all the announcements as they happen, plus our expert analysis.
