Google’s own VR project called DayDream is being discontinued. After the Made By Google event on Tuesday, Google has made it clear that they are not supporting Daydream VR for the newly launched Pixel 4 and Pixel 4 XL.
Google Daydream VR Dead
Google has now officially abandoned its VR project after confirming to various sources that they are removing support for Daydream VR on the new phones they launched on Tuesday. Daydream will still be supported in older devices and the Daydream Appstore will work until further notice.
Google launched the Daydream View alongside the first Pixel phone in 2016, and several other phone makers added support for it over the years. But Google’s midrange Pixel 3A wasn’t compatible with Daydream, and no phones released this year have supported it either.
As per a spokesperson of Google who spoke to a website called VentureBeat:
“We saw a lot of potential in smartphone VR—being able to use the smartphone you carry with you everywhere to power an immersive on-the-go experience. But over time we noticed some clear limitations constraining smartphone VR from being a viable long-term solution. Most notably, asking people to put their phones in a headset and lose access to the apps they use throughout the day causes immense friction.”
“There also hasn’t been the broad consumer or developer adoption we had hoped, and we’ve seen decreasing usage overtime of the Daydream View headset. So while we are no longer selling Daydream View or supporting Daydream on Pixel 4, the Daydream app and store will remain available for existing users.”
As per the same source, Google has verified that it’s heavily invested in AR devices which may launch in 2020. But anyhow the days of Daydream VR are numbered and it’s close to its grave.