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2023 Could Be the Metaverse’s Make-or-Break Year

A wave of new VR/AR headsets is coming, but Apple’s plan is the biggest mystery of all.

I could tell you about all the VR headsets and AR glasses and theoretical apps I tried this year that were supposed to define 2022’s vision of the metaverse. Instead I’ll just tell you about the best thing I did this year, and the thing I miss the most: Doing improv acting workshops with a little group of other performers in VR.

We gathered every week in an app called Altspace VR, invited by a brilliant interactive acting teacher named Jeff Wirth. We met every Monday, exploring ideas in performance with avatars. I put on my Quest 2 headset in my dusty little home office and met with friends I’d never seen in person.

The class ended too soon, and when I look back, I remember these sessions like we were really together. That’s what the metaverse is to me. It’s a real thing. We’re just not all there yet.

2022: A brief look forward, but only brief

More recently, standing in a kitchen, changing countertops and looking at cabinet finishes, I walk over to the window. I see a blank white room outside, along with a mirror. I see myself, with a VR headset on. I’m standing in a virtual room, suspended in a real room with mixed reality, wearing a Varjo XR-3 headset. This jarring moment represents the future — yet still the unrealized potential — of what could be coming next.

I thought 2022 would be a big year for VR and AR, and even the metaverse, a buzzword concept that’s a stand-in for how the world’s internet and virtual communities, including social media, could evolve. It wasn’t. An economic downturn, crypto’s collapse, waves of tech layoffs, and the delay of many of the most-expected VR/AR devices turned this year around fast.

Now 2023 is looking to be the big year for immersive «extended reality» (aka XR). Apple’s long-expected headset should arrive, with expectations that it’ll rattle the landscape. Meta’s Quest 3 is confirmed. The PlayStation VR 2, a headset I’ve already tried, is coming in February. And who knows what other surprises the new year will bring?

As far as the metaverse goes, it’ll only move as far as mass social adoption takes it. I’m more interested in the hardware that’ll power such tech, because until VR and AR headsets take their next leap, it’s still going to be a challenge to expect people to spend more time in them than they already are. But this is what 2022 showed me, and where it points to 2023.

Magic Leap 2, Meta Quest Pro: A mixed-reality future coming

The two headsets that made the biggest impact on me this year bookended 2022: Magic Leap 2 and Meta Quest Pro. They are, in many ways, mirror products. One is trying to approach the future of mixed reality from the AR side; the other is coming to mixed reality from the VR side. Both are trying to become more comfortable, and more reliable. Both show that there still is no ideal form for The Next Headset yet, but we’re slowly getting closer to a consensus on how the devices might do it.

The Magic Leap 2, a follow-up to the original Magic Leap headset that debuted back in 2018, has pivoted from a device targeted at the masses to a headset for business. The hardware is considerably better, and it maps overlaid, glowing virtual objects onto the real world with a greater field of view. It also, amazingly, dims out the world – a bit like a pair of sunglasses. But it’s not the ideal set of AR glasses: it runs on a more powerful dedicated processor connected to a belt-mounted mini-computer that it’s tethered to, and its single controller is fine for basic controls but not necessarily for full immersive interaction.

The Meta Quest Pro really isn’t that big a change from the two-year-old Quest 2, and certainly isn’t worth the extra $1,100 for anyone who isn’t a developer. But its improved features eye- and face-tracking, and better mixed reality with color passthrough cameras — are indicators of what will show up on many VR headsets (and AR ones) in 2023 and beyond.

The Quest Pro’s mixed reality is what really surprised me. It’s not great, but it’s similar in spirit to what the Varjo XR-3 headset can do. And the Pro, when it’s on my head running a mixed-reality app, reminds me more of AR headsets like the Microsoft HoloLens 2 than a VR headset. The way I can see the world and also see around the display through my peripheral vision feels like some sort of glasses-like AR experience, for a moment, even if it’s not.

No one is able to make good AR glasses yet. Instead, everyone’s trying to get a bit closer as best they can.

Expect more competition for Meta

The Pico 4 VR headset, made by TikTok parent company ByteDance, feels like a clone of the Meta Quest 2 but with some improvements. What’s really surprising is its price undercuts Meta’s. ByteDance did this intentionally, and likely at a loss, but it shows that somewhat affordable standalone VR headsets could be a much more common thing going forward. Pico already has them. Some of Qualcomm’s device partners using the company’s ubiquitous VR/AR chips will have them, including, likely, HTC Vive, which is already teasing a mixed-reality headset for CES. Valve is rumored to have a standalone VR headset of its own, codenamed Project Deckard, that could make a big gaming splash. Pimax, a manufacturer of VR headsets, has a combination gaming handheld/VR headset called the Pimax Portal expected for early 2023, too.

What about phone-connected headsets?

Qualcomm has been promising a wave of phone-tethered AR and VR devices for years, and they’ve been starting to emerge. HTC’s Vive Flow, released in 2021, was an attempt at a smaller pair of phone/VR glasses. Qualcomm’s latest initiatives for smaller AR glasses arriving between 2023 and 2025 can work wirelessly with phones. It’s probably pretty likely that the powerful phones we carry with us will help do some of the heavy lifting for smaller headsets in the next few years. Apple could be planning that approach with its expected headset in 2023.

Here comes Apple

Apple’s long-expected headset, likely to be VR with mixed-reality capabilities similar to what the Quest Pro provides, could shake up the landscape like nothing else since the Oculus Rift. Apple’s products tend to disrupt and take over categories: the iPhone, the iPad, the Apple Watch, AirPods. Can Apple do the same with VR and AR? It’s a far greater challenge, especially with the technical questions and the expected price (well over $1,000, possibly several thousand), as well as the recession climate we’re in globally.

Even more interesting to me is who else comes out of the woodwork alongside Apple. Google has been laying low with AR and VR for years since its discontinued Google Daydream platform, but recent efforts like Project Starline and assistive smart glasses show there’s exploration going on. Samsung hasn’t had a new AR or VR device in years, either, even though the company was a VR pioneer with Gear VR and tends to jump into markets early with bold experimental products. Will 2023 be a year for showing surprise products?

Will people care enough to wear them?

As I ask myself whether VR headsets really have a future in people’s homes, I’m distracted by my 14-year-old son, who’s literally playing a VR game on the Quest 2 right next to me. VR’s already here for many people. It’s hard to appreciate that. It’s not «what if,» it’s «what else can I do?». VR headsets are mostly clever, limited-use game consoles for most people. Meta’s tried to flex the Quest to be more. Not everyone’s been interested, and the Quest’s not fully up to the challenge.

The next wave of VR and AR headsets need to be better at what they do: to be better game consoles; have more comfortable displays, more useful controllers and ways to interact; be more interconnected with the apps and devices we already have; be more portable and more accessible.

They need to work better with prescription glasses (I find many headsets don’t fit with my glasses, or can’t accommodate my prescription). New apps need to emerge that can show what a seamless 3D virtual world can do for us. Sony, Meta, possibly Apple and whoever else shows up next year need to do this, because VR/AR headsets aren’t necessary tools for everyone yet. They have proved some successes: for design, for simulations, for gaming, even for fitness. In 2023, I’m interested in seeing if they can be more.

One thing that does seem certain, though: There are a lot of new VR headsets coming in 2023, and they’re coming soon.

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Technologies

Marvel Rivals Season 2 Adds New Vanguard Emma Frost, Krakoa Map

Emma Frost and Ultron are joining the Rivals roster in season 2, and developers are upping the pace to one new hero per month starting with season 3.

After surviving the endless night in New York City with the Fantastic Four, Marvel Rivals players are getting invited to the shores of Krakoa for the start of season 2 on April 11. The game dropped the first trailer for the new season, giving us our first official look at the new heroes, and a developer vision video dropped major news about the future of hero releases. 

The trailer features the former foe and sometimes-leader of the X-Men, Emma Frost, inviting people from across Rivals’ various timelines to the mutant nation of Krakoa, where everyone gets dressed up for a fancy gala — even Wolverine puts on a white tux. The event, however, is unceremoniously interrupted when Ultron shows up preaching extermination. 

We also got a look at some of the cosmetics in season 2, though it’s unclear which are from the shop and which might be in the battle pass. In addition to the dressed-up Wolverine, we also got looks at Magik and Psylocke in the traditional X-Men blue and yellow. Nonmutant guests are also getting in on the fun, with fancy attire for heroes like Cap, Widow and Luna Snow. 

New Heroes and balance changes in Marvel Rivals Season 2

Emma Frost joins the roster as a Vanguard who can project a shield forward, give herself damage reduction by going into her diamond form, and also choke-slam people while insulting them. We got a glimpse at her abilities in her hero trailer, but we don’t have detailed information about her abilities yet — expect that information to drop ahead of next week’s season launch. Ultron is coming in the season 2.5 update, which should be in late May. 

Some team-ups are changing in season 2, including three new team-up abilities that were previewed in the newest developer vision video. 

  • Emma Frost allows Magneto and Psylocke to create illusions of themselves.
  • Doctor Strange teams up with Scarlet Witch allowing her to use small portals to seemingly increase her damage output via a rapid-shooting alternate fire.  
  • Cap finally teams up with Bucky, allowing the Winter Soldier to leap to allies.

A few existing team-ups are getting adjustments, with Psylocke, Winter Soldier and Doctor Strange being removed from older team-ups in favor of new ones, and Namor moving from working with Luna’s anchor to Hulk’s to empower his ultimate with gamma energy. Two team-ups are being removed entirely: Magneto can no longer team up with Scarlet Witch, and Thor is no longer anchoring Cap and Storm.

Rivals announced the full list of season 2 balance changes, including buffs to Peni, Mister Fantastic and Moon Knight, with Strange losing some damage for more survivability (via his new anchor buff) and Rocket getting several adjustments, while Loki and Adam Warlock receive nerfs to their Regeneration Domain and Soul Bond abilities.

Future seasons will be shorter, which means more new heroes

One of the most surprising moments in the developer video was the announcement that, beginning with season 3, seasons will be two months long instead of roughly three. There has been a lot of discussion online about whether Rivals’ pace of new heroes (about eight per year based on three-month seasons) was sustainable. Well, apparently the Rivals devs took that personally and are cranking up that pace to a new hero every month, meaning 12 new heroes per year. 

This feels borderline ludicrous compared with other hero shooters that average about three new heroes per year, or even MOBAs like League of Legends, which has averaged about four new champions per year over the past five years. Rivals benefits from having an overflowing stable of Marvel characters to pull from rather than inventing their own hero concepts, and compared with Overwatch, the developers seem less worried about mechanical overlap in their heroes, as seen with many support ultimates. Still, a new hero every month feels unheard of for a hero shooter.

New Krakoa map and competitive changes

Season 2 is adding two new maps, including a Krakoa-themed domination map at the season’s start. Yggsgard: Royal Palace (domination) and Tokyo 2099: Shin-Shibuya (convergence) will rotate out of the map pool for ranked modes, though they’ll still be available in quick play and custom games.

The threshold for competitive picks and bans, which currently only happen in diamond-ranked lobbies, will be lowered to gold 3. Players in Eternity or One Above All ranks will only be able to duo queue, instead of queuing with larger groups — a measure that’s likely intended to keep high-level teams from stomping lobbies. 

Speaking of ranks, season 2 will drop everyone by 9 divisions, which is equal to 3 ranks. That means players in Eternity will drop to diamond, and any players at platinum 3 or below will start their climb from bronze 3 again. (AGAIN… AGAIN.)

Rivals developers also announced that individual player performance will be weighted higher when determining competitive progress after a match, meaning if your stats outperform your team’s, you’ll earn more for winning and drop less for losing. This change can help elevate smurfs and other high-skill players in lower-ranked lobbies by getting them into their appropriate ranks faster. However, it can also lead to players stat-farming, instead of playing in a way that is most effective for winning games. Overall, given that Rivals doesn’t use any sort of competitive placement matches, this should be a net positive for the game.

Other announcements

Rivals is adding new skin recolors to certain hero skins and (finally) giving players the option to gift costumes to their friends so they can surprise someone for their birthday, which you definitely did not forget about.  

Missions are changing a bit, with the addition of weekly missions and a redistribution of where battle-pass-progressing chrono tokens are earned. The devs framed this as creating a «smoother expectation» of how to earn chrono tokens, but the surface-level description sounds like they’re just making it harder to earn battle pass progress over the season by tucking away more progress under missions with shorter time limits.

The developer vision update also gave us our first look at the competitive distribution, showing how many Rivals players are in each tier as of season 1.5. 

The Hellfire Gala trailer says season 2 will start on April 11 UTC. While it doesn’t give a specific start time, expect the between-seasons maintenance to finish sometime in the middle of the night in the US.

For more on Marvel Rivals, check out which heroes and roles you should play and how to get free skins.

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Technologies

Nintendo Switch 2 Preorders: New Tariffs Mean US Customers Will Have to Wait

We’ve got all the need-to-know details about the new console, but Nintendo’s recent announcement has caused some uncertainty.

It’s finally here. Well, almost. The Nintendo Direct event on April 3 gave us our first concrete information about its highly anticipated Switch 2 console. In addition to the official release date (June 5), we also got details about the specs, price and some hot new titles. Preorders were originally supposed to open on April 9, but the new tariffs mean that US customers will have to wait a little longer. Below, we’ve rounded up everything you want to know, including when and how you’ll be able to preorder one of these nifty new handhelds.

Where to preorder the Nintendo Switch 2

When can I preorder the Nintendo Switch 2

Preorders we’re originally set to open on April 9, and for most countries, that is still the case. However, in light of the new US tariffs, Nintendo has delayed preorders in the United States while it assesses «the potential impact of tariffs and evolving market conditions.» As of now, there are no details about when US preorders will start, but we’re closely monitoring the situation and will update this page as soon as new information is available.

Read More: How Nintendo is Combating Switch 2 Scalpers

How much will the Nintendo Switch 2 cost?

The standalone console will start at $450, which is a $150 increase compared to the original console. You can also bundle it with Mario Kart World for $500, which saves you $30 compared to purchasing the game and system separately.

When will the Nintendo Switch 2 be released?

The Switch 2 will officially begin shipping on June 5. As of now, Nintendo has stated that the preorder delay in the US will not affect the release date.

When can I preorder Nintendo Switch 2 accessories?

Nintendo and several other retailers already have preorder pages for controllers, cases and other accessories, as well as games. It’s likely that preorders will begin at the same time as consoles, but there’s no official confirmation as of yet.

When can I preorder Nintendo Switch 2 games?

As with accessories, we expect that Switch 2 game preorders will be available when console preorders go live.

Nintendo Switch 2 preorders: What are people saying?

Feeling about the Switch 2 are mixed — to say the least. While the new console certainly offers some nice upgrades over it’s predecessor, including a larger screen, improved Joy-Cons and boosted storage, many are wondering if it’s enough to justify a fairly significant price hike. Especially when you consider with the new $80 price tag of its two biggest launch-window games — Mario Kart World and Donkey Kong Bananza. CNET gaming expert Scott Stein sums it up as a console that «feels a lot like an updated version of a system many people already own.» Additionally, the confusion about preorder availability has many gamers wondering if they’d be better off waiting a year or two and grabbing a refurbished console at a lower price.

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Technologies

Today’s Wordle Hints, Answer and Help for April 5, #1386

Here are hints and the answer for today’s Wordle No. 1,386 for April 5.

Looking for the most recent Wordle answer? Click here for today’s Wordle hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands puzzles.

Still recovering from yesterday’s tricky Wordle? Today’s Wordle puzzle is a little easier, although the first letter isn’t one I often guess. If you need a new starter word, check out our list of which letters show up the most in English words. If you need hints and the answer, read on.

Today’s Wordle hints

Before we show you today’s Wordle answer, we’ll give you some hints. If you don’t want a spoiler, look away now.

Wordle hint No. 1: Repeats

Today’s Wordle answer has no repeated letters.

Wordle hint No. 2: Vowels

There are two vowels and one sometimes vowel in today’s Wordle answer.

Wordle hint No. 3: Start letter

Today’s Wordle answer begins with the letter F.

Wordle hint No. 4: Under the sea

Today’s Wordle answer is sometimes associated with ocean waves, and also with soap.

Wordle hint No. 5: Meaning

Today’s Wordle answer can refer to something that is frothy or creamy.

TODAY’S WORDLE ANSWER

Today’s Wordle answer is FOAMY.

Yesterday’s Wordle answer

Yesterday’s Wordle answer, April 4,  No. 1385 was KRILL.

Recent Wordle answers

March 31, No, 1381: BOOTY

April 1, No. 1382: JEWEL

April 2, No. 1383: CURSE.

April 3, No. 1384: SHEAR

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