Wacom VR Pen

Wacom VR Pen
Basic Info
VR/AR	Virtual Reality, Mixed Reality
Type	Input Device
Subtype	Stylus
Developer	Wacom
Manufacturer	Wacom
Announcement Date	18 November 2020 (Connected Ink 2020)
Release Date	Not released; still in development as of November 2025
Website	https://developer.wacom.com/en-us/wacomvrpen
Tracking
Tracking	Wacom standalone tracking system (external cameras in the 2020 prototype)
Device
Input	Pressure-sensitive button near the tip, trigger-style grip, rotating knob with center button

The Wacom VR Pen is a pressure-sensitive stylus controller for virtual reality and mixed reality under development by the Japanese pen tablet maker Wacom. Wacom describes it as "a pressure sensitive stylus controller (VR pen), with tracking system, designed for creative professionals", intended for sketching and drawing in VR and for moving work between 2D pen tablets and 3D space.

Wacom showed the pen at its annual Connected Ink 2020 event on 18 November 2020, after earlier controller-style prototypes shown from 2018. No price or release date has been announced. In November 2025 Wacom and Thundercomm announced a joint VR/MR content creation platform that pairs the pen, still described as under development, with Thundercomm's MR HMD Pro headset reference design.

Reviewed 15 October 2026. Checked every claim against the cited Wacom developer page, Wacom-Thundercomm 2025 release, Mynavi, Mogura VR, PC Watch, Road to VR, UploadVR, Gizmodo and 3DVF articles, plus a search for 2026 release news. About review dates.

History

Early prototypes (2018-2019)

Mogura VR reported that Wacom announced VR and AR products in development at its own event in late April 2018. The working proof-of-concept prototype was a pen-shaped input controller that attached to the pen of Wacom's Intuos tablets and carried an infrared tracking sensor designed around the SteamVR tracking standard. Mogura VR wrote that the sensor resembled HTC's Vive Tracker but was an original design. Wacom also announced a strategic partnership with Gravity Sketch, the maker of the VR design tool of the same name, in which Wacom had invested earlier in 2018. The prototype was offered first to designers in manufacturing and similar fields, and Wacom said it planned to develop a product version about one year later. In its 2020 coverage, Mogura VR described the 2018 prototype as a controller held in the hand and dated the start of Wacom's VR pen development to April 2018.

At CES 2019 Wacom showed a further version developed with Gravity Sketch. According to PC Watch, the system used a dedicated pen controller for the HTC Vive series and let users switch between 2D drawing on a Wacom Cintiq pen display and 3D drawing in VR; one person could sketch in the headset while another edited the same data on the Cintiq. The same report said Wacom had shown development versions to designers in Japan in April 2018 and at SIGGRAPH in Canada in August 2018, and that it was continuing work on the controller and software toward commercialization planned for the second half of 2019. At the same show Wacom demonstrated a separate mixed reality concept with Magic Leap One and an Intuos Pro tablet. Mynavi News described the CES 2019 prototype as a drawing controller with a Wacom stylus mounted in it.

Connected Ink 2020 unveiling

Wacom presented the prototype under the name Wacom VR Pen at Connected Ink 2020 on 18 November 2020. Mynavi News reported that the controller shape of the CES 2019 prototype had been replaced by a body close to that of an ordinary pen, with pen and eraser buttons on the pen and on an integrated grip guide. Mogura VR noted that Wacom published a video of the pen on 20 November 2020 showing pressure sensing and work with a tablet.

Wacom's chief executive Nobu Ide called the pen a "transition point into the next creative future" and said it was designed to work with "major head-mounted displays in the market". Road to VR reported in December 2020 that Wacom had announced no price or release date, appeared to be seeking partners, and was directing interested professional users to a contact address. UploadVR noted that the pen was not available to consumers and was listed only on Wacom's developer website. Gizmodo wrote that Wacom appeared to be showing the hardware early so that software developers would add support for it.

Mynavi News reported that Wacom would supply the hardware and an SDK for applications, asked app developers to add support, gave an expected price of about 200,000 yen, and said Wacom hoped to begin supplying the pen for business use by professional designers and creators during 2021. Wacom still described the pen as under development in November 2025.

Later development

At the VIEW Conference in Turin in October 2024, Heidi Wang, a senior vice president of Wacom's Ink Division, presented the pen. 3DVF reported that Wacom now intended to turn the pen, first aimed at specific fields such as industrial design, into a consumer product for a wider audience, with a potential release in 2025. It also reported that the 2020 version relied on external cameras, which gave good precision but took space and were harder to set up, and that the new version would offer two options: external cameras or the tracking system of the headset itself.

On 21 November 2025 Wacom and Thundercomm announced that they were developing a VR/MR content creation platform for pen input in 3D space. It combines the VR Pen, "currently under development by Wacom", with Thundercomm's MR HMD Pro reference design based on the Qualcomm Snapdragon XR2+ Gen 2 platform. In the platform an Intuos Pro tablet can serve as a "VR tablet" for detailed work on a solid surface, and users can switch between the pen and the tablet. The companies named automotive and other industrial design, 3D game content creation, and medical and educational uses as target applications, and said they planned to work with multiple headset providers. The announcement gave no price or availability date.

Design and hardware

Wacom had not published detailed specifications for the pen at its 2020 unveiling. According to Wacom, the pen's grip force sets the pen pressure: pressing the pressure-sensitive button near the tip changes stroke thickness according to the force applied. Wacom says the pen is slim and light, with a grip similar to a real pen and easy access to each button. Mynavi News reported that the pressure sensor measures how hard the user squeezes two indentations on the pen shaft, not force on the tip, and that the tip is deliberately rounded for safety. The user holds the pen tip with the thumb and index finger and the grip guide with the other three fingers; on the prototype, pressing both guide buttons together activated the eraser.

Road to VR listed a trigger-style grip, a rotator knob for selecting digital tools, and a selector toggle on the knob as the other controls. Gizmodo described a large scroll wheel with a center-mounted button on the pen's bulge, and noted that Wacom had not said whether the pen needs charging. Mogura VR reported that the 2020 design was more compact than the earlier prototype.

Tracking and compatibility

Wacom describes the pen as an independent tracking system that works with major head-mounted displays. Road to VR reported that it does not rely on SteamVR base stations or Oculus Insight, and that Wacom had not explained how its tracking worked. Gizmodo wrote that the pen has no built-in gyroscope and uses a custom tracking system, and that Wacom had not said how many sensors a room needs. UploadVR noted that the only tracking graphic Wacom published showed three cameras. According to 3DVF, the 2020 version used external cameras.

Mynavi News reported that the tracking volume was about the size of a desk, suited to detailed work alongside a tablet rather than whole-body drawing. The pen was to be used together with commercial Oculus and Vive headsets and controllers; in the Connected Ink demonstration a Vive controller handled actions other than drawing.

The pen also works on Wacom's professional pen tablets for sketching or text input, so a user can draw on a 2D tablet and continue the work or add annotations in VR. Mynavi News reported that Wacom planned to support drawing into VR from tablets such as the Cintiq series.

Reception

The pen has not been released, so there are no reviews. In a hands-on with the Connected Ink 2020 prototype, Mynavi News wrote that line weight responded quickly and as intended to grip force, with some looseness typical of a prototype. Road to VR placed the pen in the context of VR styluses in general, which lack force feedback and make drawing in open space harder and less precise, and compared it with the Logitech VR Ink, a US$750 stylus that had been on sale since early 2020.

See also

• 3D stylus
• Logitech VR Ink
• Logitech MX Ink
• Gravity Sketch
• Thundercomm