Oculus cloud saves will solve the 64GB Quest 2's Achilles heel

Uninstalling a game to save storage space will no longer delete your progress.

What you need to know

• Oculus announced a new cloud save system coming to the Oculus Quest and Quest 2 "later this year" at Connect 2021.
• All games will now support Cloud Backup unless the developer opts out, including older titles.
• Previously, game developers had to use their own cloud save system, which most didn't.

For years, whenever you deleted a game from the Oculus Quest or Oculus Quest 2, it would remove your save files and progress permanently. Uninstall Beat Saber, and all of your high scores would vanish like the wind.

Oculus technically had a Cloud Storage (v2) feature that developers could opt into, but it broke earlier this year. Oculus eventually warned developers that cloud saves were "causing some applications to not launch" and told them to disable the feature, promising a new version in the near future.

Finally, a proper cloud save system in on the horizon. Announced during Connect 2021, Cloud Backup will work retroactively for all Oculus Quest or Oculus Quest 2 games — none of them will require a new update to add the feature. Developers can technically opt out of the feature, but we suspect the only ones that will are those that already have their own cloud saves.

This is a major boon for all Quest and Quest 2 owners looking to stock up on the best Oculus Quest games, but especially for 64GB Quest 2 owners. Many new VR games are getting larger: several popular 2021 releases are about 8-12GB, with the upcoming 45GB Medal of Honor game as the most extreme example. Jigsawing new games into a limited hard drive was becoming a real concern for many VR gamers.

Now, you can clear out space for bigger games without feeling like you're choosing which games you'll have to start from scratch or never play again. And anyone weighing the Quest 2 128GB vs. the 256GB today might be more willing to choose the cheaper model.

We don't yet know when Quest 2 Cloud Backup will arrive, except that it will be before the end of 2021 for both headsets. Also, while we know older games won't need an update, we're not sure if you'll need to sign into a game to trigger a cloud save before you delete it. But we'll know for certain once the feature arrives.

This was just one of several major announcements during the Connect 2021 event on Wednesday. Horizon Home is a new social home screen where you'll hang out with friends in avatar form. Oculus will officially support 2D Android apps such as Slack and Dropbox on the Quest 2, while adding other apps through App Lab down the line. And it even plans to use the Quest 2's cameras to enable mixed reality and augmented reality experiences on the once-VR-only headset.

Oculus Quest 2 (128GB)

$299 at Amazon $300 at Best Buy $300 at Oculus

The Oculus Quest 2 128GB headset is the best way to experience VR in 2021. And with cloud saves available soon, Oculus ensured you can be perfectly happy with the smaller storage size without worrying about having to delete your save files. It works untethered from your PC but also supports wireless PC VR and 120Hz refresh rates for ultra-smooth, graphically powerful gaming.