Mediaboss Marketing

Surprise! Oculus is launching full, controller-free hand tracking for the Oculus Quest a few months earlier than initially anticipated: this week.

While the developer SDK to integrate it into games wont be coming until next week, youll be able to try it out yourself through the Experimental Features menu in the Quest software in the v12 update due for release within the next few days.

Until third-party developers pick up the tech, youll only be able to use it in the Quest interface and certain first-party apps like Oculus TV and Browser. However, it does mean youll be able to do everything from browse the Oculus Store to setting up your Guardian Boundary without needing the Touch controllers.

Right now, hand tracking will only be available for the Quest, and not much to the chagrin of a lot of the VR community also the Rift S, which launched on the same day.

While its difficult to tell how many developers will make use of hand tracking in their games, seeing as its just for one headset in an industry that has been rather hardware-holistic until now, there are a few significant applications that could see it prove to be popular with players. The biggest of which is media consumption; the Quest is already brilliant for watching movies or TV, and the Oculus Venues software remains popular. Being able to access and control playback without having to faff with controllers sounds fantastic.

It could also be a surprisingly powerful accessibility tool. Hand tracking means all forms of sign language are now feasible in VR. If games like VRChat or Rec Room can make use of the new SDK, that could open social VR experiences to a lot of sign language users in a way no games have ever been able to before.

Hand tracking comes to the Quest in the v12 update due this week.

See the article here:
Controller-Free Hand Tracking Is Coming To The Oculus Quest This Week - Forbes