The worlds of gaming and virtual reality are set to collide once again, as tech giants Microsoft and Meta announce an unexpected collaboration. This time, the two companies are joining forces to create a limited-edition Meta Quest VR headset that draws inspiration from the iconic Xbox brand.

While specific details remain scarce, the announcement has already sparked excitement among gaming enthusiasts and VR aficionados alike. According to the teaser, this limited-edition headset will come bundled with an Xbox controller and Game Pass, allowing users to dive straight into immersive gaming experiences right out of the box.

“We’re working together again [with Microsoft] to create a limited-edition Meta Quest, inspired by Xbox,” Meta revealed in the announcement yesterday. This partnership is part of Meta’s broader strategy to open up the operating system that powers its Quest VR headsets to third-party hardware makers.

While companies like ASUS and Lenovo are developing dedicated headsets that will run the Meta Horizon OS, the collaboration with Microsoft appears to be a more focused endeavor – a limited-edition headset that pays homage to the Xbox brand, much like the limited-edition Xbox consoles that Microsoft has released in the past.

In an Instagram post, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg offered a glimpse into the vision behind this partnership, stating, The version of the headset that is being teased today “comes out of the box with Xbox controllers and Game Pass, so you can immediately just start playing on a big screen anywhere you go.”

Microsoft’s foray into the world of VR on the Xbox front has been a mixed bag. Back in 2012, a leaked document detailing the plans for the Xbox One revealed that the company had considered developing “Kinect Glasses,” codenamed Project Fortaleza. However, these ambitious plans never materialized with the launch of the Xbox One console.

Later, Microsoft created the more powerful Xbox One X, which was supposed to be VR-capable. “We’ve architected it such that something will be able to plug right in and work,” Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer confidently stated in 2016, referring to the Xbox One X’s potential for VR support under the codename Project Scorpio. Unfortunately, the Xbox One X never received official VR headset support, despite Microsoft shipping its Xbox One controllers with the Oculus Rift.

After the demise of Microsoft’s failed Windows Mixed Reality efforts, the company pivoted towards a closer partnership with Meta. Quest owners can now use Word, Excel, and PowerPoint in VR, and Microsoft and Meta also collaborated to bring Xbox Cloud Gaming to Quest VR headsets last year.