Play Pickleball in VR: ‘XR Is Having A Moment’ With Resolution Games
▼ Summary
– Alex Coulombe and the author played pickleball together in mixed reality using Pickle Pro on Apple headsets, demonstrating seamless colocation technology.
– Apple and Meta have developed invisible anchoring systems over years, enabling automatic co-location in affordable VR that feels like magic to users.
– Resolution Games is prioritizing colocation features in its titles like Pickle Pro, Home Sports, Spatial Ops, and the upcoming Battlemarked.
– Developers highlight that solid automatic co-location technology in VR is monumental and could represent the “ground floor” for ubiquitous mixed reality.
– While sharing a universal digital space across all VR headsets remains distant, current same-headset colocation experiences are already functional and impressive.
Playing virtual reality pickleball with a friend now feels remarkably natural, thanks to groundbreaking colocation technology that seamlessly blends digital courts into your physical surroundings. Recently, I joined Alex Coulombe for a match using Resolution Games’ Pickle Pro on our Apple headsets. With a simple click to share my session and his quick acceptance, a virtual pickleball court materialized on the floor between us. After adjusting our positions and choosing sides, we dove into a full game as if standing across a real net.
This experience forms the core of Coulombe’s “XR is Having a Moment” YouTube commentary, where he discusses our gameplay footage. Similar shared moments are becoming more common. Earlier this year, I collaborated on a Jigsaw Night puzzle with app creator Steve Lukas and CNET’s Scott Stein, all wearing Quest headsets while physically aboard the Queen Mary in Long Beach.
Lukas later emphasized the significance of this shift, noting that affordable VR systems now include reliable automatic co-location capabilities. He believes if developers fully embrace this opportunity, we could be witnessing the true beginning of widespread mixed reality adoption.
The sophisticated anchoring systems enabling these shared experiences represent years of dedicated research by Apple and Meta. Progress has been substantial since the impressive but limited arena-scale multiplayer demonstrations at Oculus Connect in 2018. Current tools allow creators like Coulombe to develop applications for purposes as diverse as real estate sales. Through manual alignment, I’ve even achieved cross-platform colocation between Vision Pro and Quest headsets using the Figmin XR application.
While universal compatibility across all VR devices remains distant, the current capabilities between identical headsets deliver genuinely magical interactions. “Our team invested significant effort using Antilatency, Optitrack, and Meta Shared Spatial Anchors to synchronize VR environments,” Coulombe explains in his video. “Then Apple introduced VisionOS 26 and made everything work seamlessly.”
Pickle Pro retails for $7.99 on the Apple App Store, while Meta Quest’s Home Sports costs $19.99. Both titles from Resolution Games incorporate colocation features, which the studio identifies as a strategic priority across its game portfolio.
Mathieu Castelli, Resolution Games’ Chief Creative Officer, confirmed this direction. “We’ve made substantial investments in colocation technology, particularly with Spatial Ops where multiplayer is designed for shared physical spaces. We have countless videos showing friends playing together in extraordinary locations, which is incredibly rewarding to watch.” He added that while colocation opportunities might currently be limited, the experience becomes essential once friends have compatible headsets. The upcoming Battlemarked, scheduled for release later this month, will also include colocation capabilities.
(Source: Upload VR)
