High-end VR headset Decagear: website offline, project dead?
Megadodo wanted to make high-end PC VR affordable. After two delays and a long radio silence, the project has probably died.
The Decagear was supposed to offer great technology at a small price: a high-resolution display, special lenses with a large field of view, face tracking and dedicated controllers. It was announced in the fall of 2020, back during the pandemic. The price seemed too good to be true: $450.
The low price and the startup's inexperience raised doubters. Megadodo specialized in software and had no experience in hardware development. Nevertheless, thousands pre-ordered the device.
Decagear: Chip shortage and postponements
The first delay came a few months after the announcement. Instead of spring 2021, the PC VR headset was now supposed to be released in the fourth quarter. The next unpleasant news followed in November: The Decagear is delayed by a whole year and will be more expensive to manufacture than expected. The reason: problems in the supply chain.
The startup was forced to change its strategy. In the company blog, CEO Or Kuntzman wrote that only a limited number of VR headsets would be produced and other manufacturers would take over production.
The VR hip tracker DecaMove, which should have been included with the device at launch, was sold separately by Megadodo, but reportedly did not reach all buyers or only after a long delay.
Ex-employee: "Launch unlikely"
Rumors surfaced at the end of 2021 that the Decagear would probably never come to market. The source was a former employee who left the start-up along with others due to dissatisfaction.
Comment from someone who was on the DecaDev team https://t.co/UbzkliAN4D pic.twitter.com/BAeul0dJBn
- Brad Lynch (@SadlyItsBradley) December 1, 2021
"It wasn't a scam, but the marketing was greatly exaggerated and the company has pivoted in a direction l am no longer comfortable with," the former employee wrote on Discord, advising Decamove pre-orderers to cancel. After his remarks reached Twitter, the employee apologized. He did not mean to harm the company.
No updates, website offline
Megadodo has been in radio silence since the second delay in November 2021. Kuntzman has also not sent any more tweets since then. Anyone who visits the project's website encounters an error message. It is apparently offline.
The https://t.co/2CUH5LZIOe website seems to be offline. If someone needs the DecaHub Software for DecaMove: https://t.co/y9hzXvIDOL #DecaMove
- Blizado (@BlizadoVR) June 5, 2022
I' ve reached out to Megadodo for a comment. Whether there will be an answer is questionable: The startup had already not responded to earlier inquiries.
It is unclear what will happen to the pre-orders now. According to Kuntzman, the Decagear has already been pre-ordered more than 10,000 times (as of November 2021).
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