Meta has announced the date for its third annual Quest Gaming Showcase, where we’re promised “over 40 minutes of content” on forthcoming virtual reality releases for the Quest 2 and Quest Pro headsets.
So what sort of things can we expect to get a look at? While all we have to go on is a teaser video for now, there are a few things that we’re hoping to see in action.
Here’s what to expect from the Meta Quest Gaming Showcase.
When is the Meta Quest Gaming Showcase 2023
The 2023 Meta Quest Gaming showcase takes place on Thursday, June 1. Although it’s scheduled with American audiences in mind, it thankfully is still a nice sociable time for the UK and Europe, starting at 6pm BST.
How to watch the Showcase
There are plenty of ways to tune in live, including Meta’s Facebook platform itself, and the Quest channels on Twitch and YouTube. If you really want to get into the virtual reality spirit, you can even watch in the metaverse via Meta’s Horizon Worlds VR app.
Meta Quest Gaming Showcase 2023: What to expect
Meta is unsurprisingly being quite tightlipped at exactly what we can expect to see on the day itself, aside from the “over 40 minutes of content”.
Given last year’s event clocked in at just under 27 minutes, revealing 12 games and updates in the process, we’re hopeful Meta will cover quite a lot of ground. Last year, both Resident Evil 4 and Among Us VR came out of nowhere.
The only hint we have on this year’s reveals comes from the announcement teaser itself, which shows a desert scene and Loki’s helmet on the sand.
This suggests Meta might be planning something related to Asgard’s Wrath — a 2019 VR game for the PC Oculus Rift VR headset. Whether that’s a direct port or a spin-off remains to be seen, but it was reviewed rather well at the time, achieving an average score of 88% on Metacritic.
No doubt there will be some entirely new games announced, but we’re also keen to hear updates on the best upcoming VR games, including Ghostbusters VR, which was announced at last year’s event.
Some titles were announced even longer ago, and it would be nice to get an update. The GTA San Andreas remake for Quest 2 was first announced back in 2021 but hasn’t been heard of since. Assassin’s Creed and Splinter Cell’s virtual reality debuts have been missing in action for even longer, first announced back in 2020.
We’d also expect some expansions to existing VR hits including Beat Saber and Walkabout Mini Golf, and maybe an update on Xbox Game Pass streaming teased during last year’s Meta Connect event.
Meta Quest Gaming Showcase 2023: Will we see the Meta Quest 3?
The Meta Quest 3 is coming this year — CEO Mark Zuckerberg has already confirmed as much, pegging the updated headset for release “later this year”.
But that doesn’t mean it’ll be fully unveiled here. As the name suggests, the Gaming Showcase is all about software, and historically Meta has reserved hardware reveals for its Meta Connect events. This year’s Meta Connect isn’t expected until the autumn, which is around when we’d expect the Quest 3 to be released, based on the Quest 2’s September launch.
In short, we might see the new headset teased, but a full reveal seems unlikely.
