If you've been at all interested in VR, you may have heard of the Virtuix Omni One. It's been in the works for the last decade, going from proof of concept to a fully fledged VR treadmill designed to give people the absolute last word in immersive gaming at home. Now, its maker is joining the Made for Meta program, meaning it could see easy compatibility with the best VR headsets in the not-too-distant future.
If you haven't caught any word about the Virtuix Omni One until now, and you're scratching your head as to what a "VR treadmill" could actually be, maybe take a look at the trailer below to get yourself up to speed.
It's pretty much as it sounds - strapping into a harness, you connect your VR headset to it, put on some fancy slippers, and from then on, you can walk and move around as you actually would in a game, supposedly simulating the physical sensations of walking and running around the virtual environment in front of your eyes.
It's been a big 2026 for Virtuix so far, as the company went public shortly before this deal with Meta was announced. Now trading on Nasdaq, Virtuix seems to be delving deeper into the consumer VR world as well as defence contracting, which I can understand - the Omni One looks like a natural fit for combat simulations.
"Looking ahead, we believe our ‘dual-use’ strategy of supplementing high-volume consumer sales with high-margin defense contracts positions us for achieving continued growth and creating long-term value for our shareholders,” said Virtuix CEO Jan Goetgeluk.
Until now, Virtuix has partnered with the enterprise wing of Pico, one of the biggest rivals of Meta's Quest devices. Joining the Made for Meta program now means that it'll become an official Meta Quest accessory, along with head straps, ear buds, battery packs, and more that are already on the shelves. This should mean that simple compatibility is on the way for the standalone Quest 3 and Quest 3S devices. At the moment, gamers have to use a PCVR headset to link up to the Omni, or use a compatible Pico 4 Ultra Enterprise headset.
On the new partnership with Meta, Goetgeluk said, "Joining the Made for Meta program expands our addressable market to millions of active Quest users who already own and love their VR headset and games library.
"We look forward to collaborating with Meta as we continue to scale our consumer business and bring our immersive, full-body gaming experience to a mass audience."
As futuristic and exciting as the Omni One treadmill is, I do have reservations about how it's going to land with consumers. Fancy VR tech like this is a true novelty, but it's hardly practical to have in your home unless you plan on making a VR loadout a mainstay. The Omni One has been referred to as a Peleton for VR gamers, and it will take up a significant amount of space in any room of a house.
Not only that, it'll set you back a small fortune, too. The Omni One costs $3,495 if it's bought with one of the compatible Pico 4 Ultra headsets. Even without a headset bundled in, it's an eye-watering $2,595 / £2,795. Even with financing options and payment plans available, that's more than you would need to pay to get a high-end gaming PC that would really let you get the most out of it.
Reservations about how an expensive accessory like this will perform with a wider net of consumers aside, I do think this partnership is a win for VR. This type of partnership will result in more VR treadmills in the wild, which will hopefully begin to bring the price of them down, and more developers to design for them. If there's an untapped market there, more hardware brands could come to develop their own versions.
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