Why the Arrival of VRChat's Official 'Toon Standard' Is Triggering a Mobile Shift from PCVR
The era where 'PCVR is essential to enjoy high-quality Toon avatars' is coming to an end. While high-performance Toon shaders have previously relied on the community, VRChat has finally released its official 'Toon Standard.' This is set to put an end to the disparity in avatar expression between mobile and PCVR.
For realistic world development, there is 'Standard Lite,' and at Meteor Cinema, the VRChat VR theater I am building, we achieve the same experience on both mobile and PCVR.
Meteor Cinema is one of the movie theater worlds in VRChat, and it runs on all platforms supported by VRChat (Windows, Android, iOS). It is optimized for mobile so that everyone can comfortably share the video viewing experience, allowing people to enjoy large-scale visuals and audio from home while conversing with others living in different countries.
VRChat's official shaders are focused on mobile
VRChat operates its service across both PCVR and mobile (standalone VR and smartphones), but the shaders the company has developed and provided to date have been limited primarily to the lightweight 'Standard Lite' and 'Toon Lit' for mobile (Quest). Smartphone support and the expansion of the mobile experience are essential to their business strategy, so the design of official shaders emphasizes 'optimal performance and expressive power on mobile.' It is clear that VRChat's development investment prioritizes the expansion of the mobile user base.
The disparity in Toon expression between mobile and PCVR
In terms of Toon (anime-style) expression specifically, PCVR users have been able to achieve diverse effects such as shadow layers, rim lights, fine texture adjustments, and outlines using high-performance shaders like lilToon and Poiyomi. Meanwhile, mobile users have had only 'Toon Lit' as an option, with almost no features available beyond the main texture. As a result, a significant gap in appearance between the same avatar on PCVR and mobile has emerged, undermining the sense of unity in cross-platform experiences.
lilToon supports diverse material expressions such as three-layer shadow colors, brightness limits, rim lights, outlines, fur, and glass, and has gained strong support from avatar creators.
Poiyomi is highly customizable and capable of a wide range of expressions, including emission, rim lights, outlines, and detailed material control.
The arrival of Toon Standard and the resolution of the disparity
Until now, Toon-style avatar expression was community-dependent, creating a clear gap between PCVR and mobile. In response to this situation, the 'Toon Standard' announced by VRChat in 2025 provides official support for the diverse Toon expressions previously only achievable with PC shaders (such as Detail Maps, Emission, Rim Light, and Hue-Shift). It maintains high performance even on mobile (Quest) while achieving expressive power close to that of PC shaders. Toon expression comparable to PCVR is now possible on mobile, significantly resolving the cross-platform experience gap.
Summary
The situation where PCVR was the only choice for enjoying high-quality Toon-style avatars is changing with the arrival of Toon Standard. If Toon-style expression comparable to PCVR becomes possible on mobile devices, the necessity of going out of one's way to acquire expensive PCs and PCVR equipment will diminish. The burden on creators to support both PC and mobile will also decrease, and as the focus on PCVR-exclusive expression wanes, the community will likely shift toward mobile as the mainstream.