Resident Evil 4 VR CONFIRMED - First Quest 2 Exclusive?

We reported on the rumor way back when the original Capcom leak took place in mid November of last year. Just last week, it was officially confirmed at Capcom's Resident Evil showcase. Resident Evil 4 VR is indeed coming to Oculus headsets. But which headsets? Is it coming to PC-VR platforms as well? Well, we've got some bad news to report to owners of PC-VR headsets as well as the original Oculus Quest. Resident Evil 4 VR is the first, confirmed, Oculus Quest 2 exclusive. We don't know if this is going to be a timed exclusive, or if the VR port of this game will be permanently tied to the Quest 2 hardware. Either way, this announcement has stirred up plenty of debate from all sides.

The first question we have to ask ourselves is... is it too soon for Oculus to do this to original Quest owners? Imagine a family of four that purchased a couple of Quest units last summer. Who could blame them? With the pandemic in full bloom, consumers were desperate to find ways to escape the hash realities of daily life during such tumultuous times. Escaping into Virtual Reality seemed like a wonderful idea. However, just a few months later, the Oculus Quest 2 was announced and released. In just a handful of months, their brand new, state of the art Virtual Reality headset had been made obsolete. Or had it?

In the beginning, Facebook and Oculus tried to straddle both sides of the fence. On the one hand, they tried their best to calm down owners of the original Oculus Quest. Letting them know that all software would work on both platforms, well into the foreseeable future. Oculus did admit that exclusives could happen at some point, but that it would be a very gradual transition. At the same time, Oculus also defended their decision to put the number "2" at the end of the name. Why not a Quest Plus, or a Quest Light? Did they really need to put a "2" on the end of it? By putting that "2" there, Oculus was definitely sending a message, that eventually this would be the replacement platform.

Oculus Quest 2 owners are thrilled to be able to play a Resident Evil game in VR on their headsets

Oculus was also proud of the enhancements that the Quest 2 brought to the party. Namely the Qualcomm Snapdragon XR2 chipset. However, if developers were required to make the same game for both Quest 2 and the original, it could lead to a lowest common denominator scenario. Developers would be forced to design their games around the shortcomings of the original Quest. Then, these games could be slightly enhanced on Quest 2. However, this strategy isn't the best way to show off new, more powerful hardware. You're essentially tying that XR2 chipset's hands behind it's back. When could Quest 2 owners see the full demonstration of power that this new upgrade provides?

Oculus waited a mere six months. Six months after the launch of the Quest 2 headset on October 13th, the first, real exclusive Quest 2 game is revealed. (RE4 VR at the Resident Evil Showcase) As of the writing of this article, we don't know when the game is set to release, although there are rumors it could be announced at the Oculus Showcase, that the game is... "Available NOW!". So, we're not sure when the Quest 2 exclusive era will "officially" begin, but we know it's coming soon.

Of course, Resident Evil 4 VR is just one game. Will we soon learn of other exclusive Quest 2 titles? It's not completely unreasonable to imagine Oculus announcing that Lone Echo 2 is coming to the Oculus Quest 2 this summer. The PC-VR version of the game has disappeared into the mist. Easily one of the most important upcoming games on the PC-VR platform, it's absence hasn't gone unnoticed. Oculus hasn't said a peep about the game in a long, long time. Some are even fearful that the PC-VR version has been completely scrapped, in a sort of changing of the guards.

Is Lone Echo 2 the next Oculus Quest 2 Exclusive? PC-VR gamers hope not

Another Quest game that might become a Quest 2 exclusive is Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond. Respawn Entertainment admitted some time ago that they'd be looking into the idea of brining the game to Quest. They were unsure if it would be possible. They might discover they can bring the it to Quest 2 without watering it down too much, but bringing it to the original Quest would be nearly impossible. Or maybe they could get it to work, but it would be a pale imitation of the franchise, and not worth the trouble. Another possible game that could end up on Quest 2 as an exclusive is the upcoming Quest game from developer Stress Level Zero. These are the guys that made the fabulous Boneworks game on PC-VR. It was announced several years ago now, that they're banging away on something called "Project 4". This game was initially touted as a Quest exclusive, but Brandon Laatsch later said they'd try to get the game on every VR platform possible. We still feel like the game might begin it's life on Quest as a timed exclusive and later find it's way onto other platforms. But will it be exclusive to Quest 2?