Meta Platforms has rebranded its Quest VR operating system Horizon OS and is opening the platform to third parties. While licensing terms have not been publicly disclosed, Asus and Lenovo have said they’re going to be designing hardware using the system. Microsoft and Qualcomm are also in round one of the companies on the inside track as Meta positions Horizon OS along the lines of a universal VR standard, not unlike Microsoft’s Windows OS for computers. All four companies have already been working with Meta on VR for Quest or its predecessor, Oculus.

Qualcomm supplies Snapdragon processors that help run Quest hardware and software. It’s Snapdragon XR2 Gen 2 Platform debuted last year on the Meta Quest 3.

Microsoft has an ongoing relationship with Meta, and last year teamed with the company to bring its Xbox Cloud Gaming beta to Meta Quest. Meta is now working to create a limited-edition Meta Quest headset the social media giant suggests is “inspired by Xbox.”

In a blog post, Meta says Lenovo will “draw on its experience co-designing Oculus Rift S,” a Quest predecessor, “to develop mixed reality devices for productivity, learning, and entertainment,” while Asus will develop a new performance gaming headset under its Republic of Gamers (ROG) brand.

“Meta wants to be the Microsoft of headsets,” The Verge headlines, writing that “on the theme of opening up, Meta is also pushing for more ways to discover alternative app stores” and is making its own “experimental App Lab store more prominent and even inviting Google to create a Play Store for Horizon OS.”

Meta is “also developing a new spatial app framework that helps mobile developers create mixed reality experiences,” the company writes, proving a link for those who would like to apply for access. “Developers will be able to use the tools they’re already familiar with to bring their mobile apps to Meta Horizon OS or to create entirely new mixed reality apps.”

Though the open-frontier expansion is still in its earliest stages — with Meta’s blog post incorporating conceptual illustrations labeled “not an actual product render” — VentureBeat writes that “tech workers and VR/XR designers and influencers” are already “excitedly cheering on the news” that Meta is, in its own words, “opening up the operating system powering our Meta Quest devices to third-party hardware makers, giving more choice to consumers and a larger ecosystem for developers to build for.”

“It’s an interesting tack from Meta, repositioning itself as the bastion of ‘openness’ and choice among not only AI with Llama 3 but also with VR/XR and the ‘metaverse’ for which it was controversially renamed from Facebook,” VentureBeat opines.

In a video posted on Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s Instagram account, “he previewed examples of specialized headsets partners might make: a lightweight device with sweat-wicking materials for exercise, an immersive high-resolution one for entertainment and another equipped with sensation-inducing haptics for gaming,” Reuters reports.