Meta Quest 3’s ring-less controllers are make or break for the headset

The Meta Quest 3 was recently announced by Mark Zuckerberg, with a launch in sight for the end of the year. However, with quite a while to go until then, we’re going to have a lot of time to imagine how the headset is going to perform. One way we already know is going down well with Quest fans is the ring-less controllers.

VR headsets have long been held back slightly by their awkward designs – the ringlet sensors used for tracking being one of the most obvious. Difficult to orient and even more irritating to place down, the PSVR 2’s controllers certainly suffered from this issue. However, it seems the Meta Quest 3 will circumvent this issue entirely – introducing sensor-less VR controllers just like the Meta Quest Pro.

The Meta Quest 3’s main competition – the PSVR 2, Valve Index, and Pico VR 4 all feature some sort of sensor, usually in a cumbersome ring shape, which allows the headset to track the position of the controllers in 3D space.

However, while this innovation vastly improves upon the ringed design of previous controllers, gamers have been wondering how the Meta Quest 3 is going to track movement while the controllers are obstructed from the headset’s camera sensors.

With the Meta Quest Pro, there were minor issues where lighting and darkness played key roles in determining the tracking quality of the controllers – so the ring-less design, while bringing ergonomic design and comfort to users, also gave it a slight disadvantage in certain conditions.

The Meta Quest 3 is going to go head to head with Apple’s rumoured VR headset, and perhaps its sudden reveal was reactionary to Apple’s product showcase later this week. Apple’s product design has consistently hit the spot, and we imagine that their introduction to VR is going to reflect just that. The Quest 3 is going to need to tick all of the boxes, and the controllers could be the most important aspect. Zuckerberg’s got to get it right.