Virtual Desktop Update Makes Wireless Streaming On Oculus Quest A Lot Easier

If you recently picked up an Oculus Quest 2, you might have wondered how you can continue playing more graphically-demanding PC games wirelessly on the headset. Today, it got a lot easier, as Virtual Desktop's wireless streaming was reactivated on the Oculus Store.

Since the early days of the original Quest, Virtual Desktop has been the go-to app for streaming PC VR titles over Wi-Fi to the headset, letting you play even more games without the fuss of any wires. It was originally just another app available on the Oculus Store before the company blocked the app's ability to stream from a PC natively.

Since then, you've had to resort to a more complicated sideloading process to get it working, but today Oculus has relented. Virtual Desktop's latest version reactivates the native connection to you PC, meaning you simply need to purchase the app for $20 to play games like Half-Life: Alyx (GameSpot's Game of the Year in 2020), Boneworks, and more without a tether.

Guy Godin, Virtual Desktop's developer, was caught by surprise by the development. In an interview with UploadVR, Godin says he submitted the functionality for Oculus' early access program, App Lab. Instead of approving it there, Oculus let it go live on the main app store. It's a positive change for the app, even though Godin says that over 90% of Virtual Desktop owners already went through the hassle of setting up the sideload patch.

Regardless, it seems Oculus is happy that Virtual Desktop does to the Quest what it hasn't been able to since launch. There isn't a native solution from the Facebook-owned company yet, but you can still spend $80 on its Oculus Link cable if this wireless solution doesn't work out.