Deca
| Deca | |
|---|---|
| Information | |
| Type | Private |
| Industry | Virtual Reality |
| Founded | 2018 |
| Founder | Or Kuntzman |
| Headquarters | Singapore |
| Notable Personnel | Or Kuntzman (CEO) |
| Products | DecaMove, DecaGear, DecaAir |
| Website | https://www.deca.net |
Deca is the consumer brand of Megadodo Simulation Games Pte. Ltd., a Singapore-based startup that became known in the Virtual Reality community for the DecaMove hip tracker and the announced but never released DecaGear PC VR headset. The company was led by chief executive Or Kuntzman, a software entrepreneur who had previously co-founded other studios and run the now-defunct studio Betastamp.[1][2] Deca attracted attention for promising high-end VR hardware at low prices, but its flagship headset slipped through multiple delays and the company went silent in late 2021. By June 2022 its website was offline.[3]
The one product Deca actually shipped was the DecaMove, a small hip-worn tracker for Locomotion in PC VR games, which reached early backers in 2021 and was reviewed independently.[4]
History
Deca, operating under the corporate name Megadodo Simulation Games, first drew wider coverage in 2020. The studio described itself as a software-focused team and used the Deca name as a separate consumer-facing brand for its hardware ambitions.[2] Its chief executive, Or Kuntzman, had a background in software and game studios rather than hardware manufacturing, a point that several outlets flagged as a reason for caution given the ambitious specifications the company was promising.[1]
The company's first widely publicized effort was the DecaMove locomotion tracker, which launched a preorder campaign in April 2021. The campaign ran something like a crowdfunding drive, with the company stating it needed a minimum number of orders to move forward with production.[5] By the time the month-long campaign closed in May 2021, DecaMove had taken in more than 350,000 US dollars from over 6,000 units, and Kuntzman said news about the larger DecaGear headset would follow soon. The company also noted that Valve had provided it with technical support.[6][5]
The DecaGear headset itself had been announced in October 2020, positioned as a high-resolution PC VR headset for 449 US dollars (sometimes cited as 450) with a 10 US dollar reservation deposit. The headset was originally slated to ship in 2021.[1][2] Over the following year the timeline slipped repeatedly. An early delay pushed the launch to the fourth quarter of 2021, and in November 2021 Deca announced a further delay of about a year together with a price increase. By that point the company said it had taken over 10,000 preorders.[3]
Decline and silence
Confidence in the project eroded toward the end of 2021. Rumors circulated that the DecaGear would never reach the market, fed in part by a former employee who left the company. The ex-employee said a launch looked unlikely and commented that the effort "wasn't a scam, but the marketing was greatly exaggerated and the company has pivoted in a direction I am no longer comfortable with," remarks he later apologized for in December 2021.[3] Kuntzman stopped posting public updates after November 2021, the company became unresponsive to press inquiries, and the deca.net website had gone offline by June 5, 2022. The DecaGear headset never shipped, and the status of outstanding preorders was left unclear.[3]
Products
Deca's catalog centered on a hip tracker, a planned headset, and a planned wireless streaming accessory. Only the DecaMove tracker reached customers.
| Product | Announced | Type | Status | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DecaMove | 2021 | Hip-worn VR tracker | Shipped (2021) | Belt-clip Locomotion device; communicates with the PC through an included Bluetooth USB dongle; about 59 US dollars during preorder, 69 US dollars at general sale[5][6] |
| DecaGear | October 2020 | PC VR headset | Cancelled / never released | 2160x2160 per eye, 90Hz, four-camera Inside-out tracking, FaceFlow face tracking, finger-tracking controllers; from 449 US dollars; delayed repeatedly then abandoned[1][2][3] |
| DecaAir | 2020 | Wireless streaming battery accessory | Never released | Add-on that would stream VR wirelessly over Wi-Fi 5 or 6 for the DecaGear, with a claimed up to six hours of play; about 50 US dollars[1][2] |
DecaMove
DecaMove is a small, puck-like device worn on the hip that sets the direction of travel for smooth Locomotion in supported SteamVR games. Instead of moving where the head or hands point, the wearer moves where the hips face: twisting the hip turns an on-screen direction arrow, and the player walks that way.[4] The tracker clips to a belt, charges over USB-C, and pairs with the PC through a bundled Bluetooth dongle; its battery lasts roughly three hours.[4][6] The company shipped early "Blogger Edition" units to reviewers, and an UploadVR hands-on tested over several months found setup simple and the experience smooth for the roughly 30 officially supported titles, while compatibility with unsupported games was limited.[4] The device began reaching Early Mover backers in mid-2021 and was set to go on general sale in January 2022.[5][6]
DecaGear
The DecaGear was Deca's headline product: a PC VR headset announced in October 2020 with specifications that, on paper, rivaled or exceeded much pricier hardware. It promised dual displays at 2160x2160 pixels per eye (about 4.6 megapixels each, comparable to the HP Reverb G2), a 90Hz refresh rate, and four outward-facing cameras for Inside-out tracking with a claimed 225-degree controller tracking volume.[1][2] A standout claim was its FaceFlow face tracking, which used two infrared cameras to capture all 52 blendshapes of the Facial Action Coding System: one camera tracking the eyes, brows and forehead, the other the mouth, lips, cheeks and tongue.[2] The headset was to ship with Valve Index style controllers featuring finger and pressure sensors, and to support SteamVR content. Its 449 US dollar price made the promised feature set look unusually aggressive, which is part of why outlets greeted it with both excitement and skepticism.[1][2] After repeated delays the headset was never released; see the dedicated DecaGear article for details.
Reception
Coverage of Deca was a mix of enthusiasm for its low-cost, high-specification pitch and doubt about whether a small software studio with no hardware track record could deliver. The DecaMove tracker earned cautious praise as a genuinely useful, easy-to-use locomotion aid for PC VR enthusiasts, with the main caveat being its limited list of fully supported games.[4] The DecaGear headset, by contrast, came to symbolize VR hardware vaporware: heavily marketed and widely preordered, then delayed indefinitely before the company stopped communicating and its website disappeared.[3]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 "DecaGear PC VR Headset Promises Face & Hip-tracking, 4.6MP Per-eye, and 2021 Launch". 2020-10-15. https://www.roadtovr.com/decagear-vr-headset-megadodo-simulation-games/.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 "DecaGear 1 is a 4K VR headset with face and hip tracking for $449". https://www.tweaktown.com/news/75874/decagear-1-is-4k-vr-headset-with-face-and-hip-tracking-for-449/index.html.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 "High-end VR headset Decagear: website offline, project dead?". https://mixed-news.com/en/high-end-vr-headset-decagear-website-offline-project-dead/.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 "Early DecaMove Review - A Little Device That Goes A Long Way For VR Locomotion". 2021-06-02. https://www.uploadvr.com/decamove-review/.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 "DecaMove Launches Pre-Order Campaign For VR Hip Tracker". 2021-04-18. https://www.uploadvr.com/decamove-pre-order-campaign/.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 "VR Locomotion Device 'DecaMove' Attracts $350K in Preorder Campaign". 2021-05-19. https://www.roadtovr.com/decamove-release-date-price/.