Why is Meta Slashing Costs on its VR Headsets?

“Meta is slicing costs for 2 of its digital actuality headsets because it continues attempting to spice up adoption for the nascent expertise on which it has wager its future,” studies CNN:

The corporate introduced Friday that it’s slashing the value of its higher-end Meta Quest Professional headset by some $500, bringing its price to $999, roughly six months after it was launched. Meta can be decreasing the value of its Quest 2 headset from $499.99 to $429.99. The value reduce for the Quest 2 will go into impact in additional than a dozen international locations together with america on Sunday. The Quest Professional worth drop will take impact the identical day in america and Canada and on March 15 in all different international locations the place it’s bought.

“Our aim has at all times been to create {hardware} that is reasonably priced for as many individuals as potential to reap the benefits of all that VR has to supply,” the corporate mentioned in a weblog put up.

Yahoo Finance believes Meta is decreasing costs “as a result of shoppers are, effectively, simply not shopping for as many as the corporate anticipated.” The Verge agrees that the Meta Quest Professional was “an absolute boondoggle of a tool” — however means that’s not the entire story.

“for those who have a look at the Quest 2, which most individuals use for taking part in video games, as a sport console, it is executed moderately effectively.”

Mark Rabkin, Meta’s vice chairman for VR, informed workers that Meta has bought over 20 million Quest headsets so far. That features each the Quest and Quest 2…. That looks as if a small quantity, however the Nintendo GameCube solely bought 21 million consoles in its whole lifespan, and the Xbox Collection X and S are estimated to have bought roughly 20 million consoles so far. So for those who have a look at the Quest 2, which most individuals use for taking part in video games, as a sport console, it is executed moderately effectively.
Their conclusion? “Meta may need large ambitions for VR headsets and their place within the metaverse, however the actuality is that the highest software program on the Quest 2 are all video games…. And whereas Meta is thrusting metaverse experiences onto customers, it is type of ignoring that core gamer viewers.”