A history of consumer VR since 2012, from the first Oculus developer kit and the 2016 hype cycle to Quest 2, and what mainstream success for VR could look like (Steve Haske/Ars Technica)

Kyle Orland / Ars Technica:
Meta adviser and ex-Oculus CTO John Carmack expresses heavy skepticism at pushing for avatar fidelity, focusing on the Quest Pro to drive VR adoption, and more  —  Lonely lecture as a VR avatar is a far cry from last year’s “thousands of people” goal  —  Last year, former Oculus CTO …

Cecilia D’Anastasio / Bloomberg:
The hype around esports is fading, as teams and organizations shrink due to a weak sponsorship and ad market, falling VC investment, and the crypto meltdown  —  The once-thriving esports industry has fallen on hard times as funding sources dwindle and signs abound that athletic competition via video games …

Andrew Cunningham / Ars Technica:
macOS Ventura review: Stage Manager has some good ideas and runs much better on the Mac than on the iPad, the new System Settings app is inconsistent, and more  —  A pleasantly surprising new multitasking UI and app redesigns define macOS 13.  —  If you asked me to tell you all the most exciting things …

New York Times:
Internal note: Meta adviser and ex-Oculus CTO John Carmack leaves the company after more than eight years, saying Meta is operating at “half the effectiveness”  —  John Carmack, who was chief technology officer of Oculus, which Meta bought, is departing the company.

Adi Robertson / The Verge:
Meta unveils the $1,499 Quest Pro headset, offering eye and face tracking and color passthrough video for mixed reality, shipping on October 25 in 22 countries  —  Meta has finally announced the Meta Quest Pro: a $1,499 virtual reality headset it’s been teasing for the past year.

Adi Robertson / The Verge:
Hands-on with Meta Quest Pro: feels like a sophisticated development kit with a thoughtful design, improved controllers, one to two hours of battery, and more  —  Meta’s new high-end headset introduces eye tracking and mixed reality for $1,499 … The first thing I notice with the Meta Quest Pro is the fit.