Pico’s future isn’t exactly clear, but it looks to be focused on hand tracking

The Pico 4 isn’t among the most notorious units out there, but it has come up in several best VR headset lists. And it isn’t difficult to see why: even compared with the fan-favorite Quest 2, Pico’s headset has some really solid selling points.

And, most importantly: a stellar series of feature-packed software updates. But does that even matter now that ByteDance — maker of TikTok, possible destroyer of Pico — has laid off hundreds of employees, even proprietary game devs?

Oh, and mind you: all of that happened after officials confirmed that Pico is super-safe and isn’t going anywhere. Neat!

Now, about a week has passed after all of that, so it’s time for a new dramatic shift. This time, however, it doesn’t appear to be that unfounded. So, yeah, you’ve read the title: Pico is going to focus on hands-free control methods for its headsets moving forward. Why?




So, there are two reasons that I’m asking the “why” here. First off, Pico said that it doesn’t believe in XR as an industry, yet it’s not only committed to continue making headsets, but headsets with cutting-edge technology such as hand-tracking.

I really appreciate the new bits of info, guys, but I’d really love to hear more about the general game plan, because I’m obviously missing something. Anyway! On to reason number two: controllers have gotten great, so why go for hand-tracking just now?

Well, basically: because Apple promised it. And after that, Google’s very own first party VR studio, Owlchemy also spoke up and said that this is where VR is going. Pico’s officials are also pushing devs to make more content that supports hand-tracking. Oh, and Meta is rolling out more experimental features related to the technology.

So, we get it: everyone loves hand-tracking. But, personally, I’d just like to remind everyone that eye-tracking is a thing too and that PSVR uses it to great effect for things such as UI navigation, and that this is the one thing that every Meta fan keeps asking for in every single online Q&A session, but I digress. Like, I don’t think I do, but you get my point.

One of Pico’s suspected goals was to provide a bit of healthy competition to Meta and the Quest platform. That is certainly much needed, given that Apple is about to target a whole other demographic while Steam is busy executing software-related black magic, leaving the crown unexposed for Quest’s taking.

But it’s easy to say that the Pico 4 — the company’s only headset that sort of reached the west — couldn’t stand up to the Quest 2 due to the massive library that Meta has to offer. While Pico? Yeah, pretty barren.

So could hand-tracking be the solution to Pico’s problems? And if yes, who’s going to develop it now that seemingly most of the brand’s staff has been let go of? Or… Could this just be an attempt from ByteDance to stay relevant via trailing after Apple’s decision to focus on hand-tracking?

Food for thought. Especially in a world where Meta and Tencent are teaming up for a cheaper headset, that may even mean too much food in one's plate.