Oculus VR founder Palmer Luckey did not mince words in his review of the much-hyped Magic Leap One headset, calling it the $2,295 product a "tragic heap."
In a review, which he posted on his personal blog, Luckey described Magic Leap's latest product as a tragedy in the classical sense when it comes to the augmented reality (AR) world.
Luckey said making matters worse was the massive funding and carefully crafted hype that Magic Leap put into its latest product, saying it "sucked all the air out of the room in the AR space."
Despite its expensive price tag, Luckey pointed out that the Magic Leap One headset is not worth the money, describing it as a flashy hype vehicle that almost nobody can actually use in a meaningful way.
Luckey emphasized that despite the hype that Magic Leap came up with for its One headset, it has "failed to deliver on almost any of the promises that allowed them to monopolize funding in the AR investment community."
The Oculus founder was referring to the $2 billion funding from Magic Leap investors, who bet their money on the company's claim that it has developed a revolutionary headset. Luckey's words should be taken seriously as he is one of earliest developers of virtual reality through Oculus, before he sold it to Facebook for $2 billion.
Luckey Hits Magic Leap's Photonoc Lightfield Chips
At first, Luckey started his review on a positive note, praising Magic Leap One's Lightpack by giving it an "A+" for its lightweight design that reduces the stress and fatigue off the user's head and neck. He also gave a positive impression on the robustness of the cable.
However, it was all negative from there as Luckey started with Magic Leap's so-called Photonic Lightfield Chips, which he said was already being used by everyone else, including Microsoft in its last-generation HoloLens headset for three years.
Luckey said there's nothing to be amazed about Magic Leap's LuminOS, pointing out that it is just a customized version of Android and not a brand-new operating system, contrary to what the company has been claiming.
"It is some of the worst parts of phone UI slammed into some of the most gimmicky parts of VR UI, and I hope developers create better stuff in the near future," Luckey stressed.
Magic Leap CEO Responds To Luckey
According to Luckey, 45 minutes after he posted his blog, Magic Leap CEO Rony Abovitz responded to the review with a series of tweets alluding to the animated TV series Avatar: The Last Airbender. In his tweets, Abovitz implied that Luckey is a "bitter, angry, banished Zuko."
