I’ve been on the record that the Vision Pro is remarkably lonely. So much so that the device was starting to make me sad.
I have two updates:
Despite my expectations (and disappointment) as it was approaching, I did not return the Vision Pro at the two-week mark.
I had an experience with it recently that totally changed my perception of the device:
Please pardon the disaster that is my "persona," which comes from deep in the uncanny valley. I didn't take a screenshot, but J shared it after he, M and I hung out. As you can see, he enjoyed our Yahtzee game on the beach of a lake near Mt. Hood. I enjoyed it in my living room in Manhattan.
You are looking at Apple's SharePlay, an under-marketed feature of FaceTime that is pretty magical in the Vision Pro. I’d FaceTimed with the Vision prior and seen a friend share their screen, which is fine but nothing particularly new. The big deal is that other apps can use it too, like the Game Room app we used to bring a 3D Yahtzee board into our respective environments, or YouTube and Apple TV. After Yahtzee, we watched Dakota Johnson's Arch Digest (which is significantly more dramatic and compelling than her new film, Madame Web; if you’re looking for more Dakota, skip M.W. and watch the superb Cha Cha Real Smooth) and a fully-immersive experience of a woman tightrope walk across a highline strapped to a Norwegian cliff.
These are limited so far, but spending an hour with two friends, taking turns rolling dice, and chatting was a unique feeling. It's crucial to note that I'd experienced all of this in Vision Pro without friends, and while technically impressive, it quickly lost its luster. It was the togetherness that made it magical.
I described a combination of a simple turn-based game and video chat... which is not rocket science. But the synchronous nature in an immersive space made it feel unlike any connective digital experience I've had. I don't play many online games anymore, but I've had fun hanging with friends in Discord playing League of Legends and VALORANT. One day in covid, some friends from high school and I zoomed and played a web-based Dungeons and Dragons. These were great, but my SharePlay experience felt more natural and together in a way that is hard to describe.
Distractions still loom: I spent a portion of our Yahtzee game with a ~100-inch screen showing a YouTube video on low volume, only visible to me. Right now, you can only share one app at a time, so I couldn't invite my friends into my media overload, even if I wanted to. When you're with someone in-person and they're wearing a Vision Pro, they could be watching anything while pretending to listen to you, as Andrew suggested on our recent podcast. That might be unsolvable.
This device is approaching science fiction with its ability to make you feel like you are somewhere else. Critically I think it will be able to make us feel like we’re with someone else, too. My friend C recently shared a spatial video (Apple's native video format for immersive, 3D capture) from her AirBnB on vacation, littered with friends and conversations. I was hanging at home with a couple of friends, and pulled up her video on one side of the room while talking to the others who were in person. It was bizarre and fascinatingly real, as though I was hanging out with all of them at once (notably, I was the only one who got to experience this, but it was still a glimpse of the future). I then sent a spatial video of my side of things for C to see, and she responded similarly.
Eventually, we'll create robust environments, whether purely digital or renders of physical, and invite others to visit us in them. A few asterisks aside, (namely everyone wearing giant or hopefully less giant ski goggles), we'll be able to teleport to each other. We'll share canvases and tools and create together, without the constraints of small screens and two dimensions. It's still a dream, but not so hard to imagine. It's closer than I thought. Most importantly, I no longer feel lonely when I look at the Vision Pro, let alone put it on. I feel possibility.
Last but not least, if you’re a talented game designer or just someone who wants to make vision apps, I’d recommend exploring SharePlay-compatible apps. There are clear limitations, like the constraint of only asynchronous interactivity (meaning: only one player seems to be able to control things at once and thus only turn-based games and experiences are possible). Still, it’s fun to imagine even simple games could be a blast. I’d be inspired by stuff like Heads Up, Psych!, JackBox, SpaceTeam, Fishbowl, etc. Maybe even The Mind!
Oh, and if you work at Apple, maybe spend more time talking about SharePlay experiences when you talk about the Vision Pro. Just one guy’s opinion.
From outside the metaverse (for now),
Jackson
P.S. I’m sure there will be angry people calling me an idiot and citing that the Meta Quest has had multiplayer games for years and has a much fuller catalog. Frankly, I’d expect that, and it wouldn’t shock me to try them out and have as much or more fun as I’ve had in the Vision Pro. I think that’s great! I should try a Quest 3—it’s been a long time since I’ve tried any Oculus/Meta headset. Still, I remain excited about Apple’s developer ecosystem and the Vision Pro’s hardware to make these experiences even more rich. More importantly, I’m hopeful to see progress across both ecosystems as they grow in adoption; after all, none of this matters if the people we care about don’t have a device, too.