Bigscreen launched a holiday update just before Christmas bringing new environments and features. In addition, developers are seeing strong statistics and retention in Quest 2.
Most of the update is the new drive-in theater environment, which developers said was the # 1 feature most requested by users.
In addition to the drive-in, the app has also been redesigned in recent months and now features a brand new user interface. The developers say the new UI should make it easier to discover new rooms and content, which is convenient, as there are also 60 new TV channels being added to Bigscreen in this update. The channels “include major police drama series like Narcos and hilarious game shows like Wipeout”.
A new TV category called “To Infinity and Beyond” is also being added to Bigscreen for live broadcasts and rocket launch reruns. According to the developers, SpaceX releases are some of the biggest social events in Bigscreen and VR in general, with thousands of people watching at the same time.
The developers also noted that the launch of Quest 2 was massive for Bigscreen and meant that the team had to update their servers. According to the developers, “core metrics have increased 3-5x since October” and people are spending more time on the app than ever before. “The average session is almost an hour, and advanced users spend 20 to 30 hours a week on Bigscreen. Quest has become the most popular headset in the Bigscreen user base, followed by the Oculus Rift S, Valve Index and HTC Vive. “
Thanks to the server update, the lobbies now support 12 people (out of 8) and the plan is for the room size limits to increase to 25 or even 50 people next year.
With this update, Bigscreen is no longer compatible with Oculus Go, as Facebook stopped accepting app updates for this headset as of December 4. Oculus Go Bigscreen servers will be shut down “in the coming weeks”.
In the next year, Bigscreen plans to launch several features, including “a friend system, new avatars, new environment, major improvements to our video streaming, a new ultra-low latency Remote Desktop feature and more.” Support for PlayStation VR and Mac apps is also “on the road”, but without a strict schedule.