Meta Quest is going open-source. Meta Horizon OS, the rebranded name for the spatial software behind the Quest 3, is being lent out to partners like ASUS Republic of Gamers, Lenovo, and Xbox to make their own spin-off versions of VR headsets with Quest games and apps.

Meta will share popular Quest features like inside-out tracking, passthrough and room scanning for mixed reality, and the Meta Quest Store of hundreds of Quest games — now renamed the “Meta Horizon Store.”

Mark Zuckerberg, who announced the news on Instagram, called this an update to the “metaverse” and said Meta is “partnering” with the brands above for their new headsets.

After Meta and Google failed to come to terms about bringing Android to Quest headsets, Meta is essentially trying to become Android, with Quest headsets as the stock Pixels of the VR world and other brands taking on specific niches like power gaming or productivity.

Meta’s blog post announcement explains that ASUS ROG, for instance, will make an “all-new performance gaming headset.” Just as the ASUS ROG Phone 8 Pro is the fastest Android phone on the market, the unnamed ASUS Quest spin-off could be the fastest VR headset for gaming, with access to both Quest games and Air Link for PC VR.

“With Meta Horizon OS, ASUS and Republic of Gamers will build the gaming headset of the next generation,” says ASUS co-CEO S.Y. Hsu.

"Made with Meta Horizon OS" printed on a box

(Image credit: Meta)

Lenovo, which helped Meta design the hardware for the Oculus Rift S, will make its own “mixed reality devices for productivity, learning, and entertainment.” This would presumably compete with the Apple Vision Pro and have similar features to the upcoming Quest Pro 2.