John Carmack has never been one to bite his tongue. Since his resignation from Meta last year, however – accompanied by an internal announcement, leaked to the press, that he “wearied of the fight” – he has had no reason to hold back with his opinions on its strategies. In late September, as his previous employer prepared to ship the first Quest 3 units, with MR (mixed reality) the headline feature, Carmack took to Twitter. “I remain unconvinced that mixed reality applications are any kind of an engine for increasing headset sales,” he wrote. “High-quality passthrough is great, but I just don’t see applications built around integrating rendering with your real-world environment as any kind of a killer app. I consider it [an] interesting and challenging technology looking for a justification.” The Id co-founder capped off the post in the most John Carmack way possible, offering a cash bet to anyone who could prove him wrong.
Carmack’s words go through our head as we first place the Quest 3 onto it. The hardware, though, offers a pretty strong counterargument. The passthrough feed from its dual RGB cameras is sufficiently high-fidelity and responsive to make a plausible stand-in for actual reality. Handy for a quick glance at our phone or PC, yes, but it also makes it possible to move to another room – or even another floor – without removing
