July 28th, 2022: Meta Raises Quest 2 Prices

Welcome back! Today we are discussing the recent news of Meta's Quest 2 price increase. How much is it, why did they do it, and why should you care? These are all great questions, but to find out the answers you will have to read today's post.

Let's start with exactly how much are they raising the price? Meta announced they are raising their prices by $100 starting in August. This means their lowest priced headset will start at $399, much more in-line with other gaming platform pricing (XBOX, PS4, Nintendo, etc.). The 256GB model will cost $499, and both headsets will come with a free download of the popular 'Beat Saber' game (typically $30) until the end of the year. In comparison, the next lowest priced headsets starts at $549 and is the HP Reverb G2 or the HTC Vive Pro which starts at $599 for the headset only (no controllers).

So why did they do it? Meta stated though a spokesperson, that it has invested billions of dollars in the VR ecosystem and that the company is 'adjusting the price of our Meta Quest 2 headsets to enable us to continue investing in ways that will keep driving this increasingly competitive industry forward for consumers and developers alike.' This is at a time when Meta recently reported an over $2.8 billion operating loss in their Metaverse division.

At over 15 million units of the Quest 2 device out in the wild, Meta is not backing away from their Metaverse and Oculus headsets anytime soon. It remains to be seen if the $100 increase is going to affect their operating deficit, but we definitely know there are no additional features coming with the increase.

So why should you care? Well, if you haven't already purchased a Quest 2, you are stuck paying the extra $100 if you don't purchase one before August. If you already have one, this impacts you because it will start to slow down the rate at which you see new players. For the last year or 2, players have been in awe at the adoption rate of the technology, seemingly turning ghosted or barren game-worlds into stunning competitive multiplayer sessions seemingly overnight. It remains to be seen if this will put a huge damper on that, but stay tuned to D3D XR News to find out more as new details emerge, including new information about their prototype headset, Project Cambria. Until next time!