Quest 2 beats Quest 3 in sales, but what does that mean for the platform?
Amazon sales figures show that Meta Quest 2 is selling significantly better than the new headset. What does that mean for the Quest platform?
A few days ago, Twitter user and developer JustDaven pointed out that Amazon shows rough sales figures for Meta Quest 2 and 3 for the last 30 days.
The VR publication RoadtoVR added up the numbers for all the major territories where the headsets are sold and came up with the following results:
- Meta has sold approximately 240,000 headsets in the last 30 days.
- Roughly 163,000 are Meta Quest 2
- Roughly 69,000 are Meta Quest 3.
- This means that Meta sold more than twice as many Quest 2 units as Quest 3 units on Amazon during the November period.
Please note that these figures do not include Meta Store and retail sales of the headsets.
Meta Quest 3 costs twice as much
These numbers come as no surprise: Meta is charging $500 for Quest 3, exactly twice the price of Meta Quest 2, which is currently cheaper than ever at $250.
Considering the price, the new headset does relatively well. However, it should be noted that the Quest 3 benefits from two special circumstances that the Quest 2 lacks: a big marketing push on the part of Meta, and the fact that the product was launched recently, and many enthusiasts probably bought the headset in the last few weeks.
Next year, the balance is likely to shift even further toward Quest 2, especially since no exclusive titles have been announced for Quest 3 and the device's new feature, advanced mixed reality, has yet to produce apps and games that will entice consumers to buy the more expensive headset.
What's next for the Quest platform?
This raises questions about the future of the Quest platform. If relatively few people own and use a Quest 3 compared to the million-selling Quest 2, then developers will primarily create VR content along the capabilities of the older, much less powerful headset, and pay less attention to mixed reality, which it would need to evolve. In that case, the potential of the Quest 3 could remain untapped, and the Quest platform could remain stuck at the level of the last generation of standalone headsets.
Meta knows this. The question is what the company will do next. According to reports, a new, more affordable VR headset will be launched in 2024 to replace the Meta Quest 2. We don't know the specs of this "Meta Quest 3 Lite". Will it use the new, much more powerful Quest 3 chip and will it still have dedicated mixed reality sensors? We can't say yet.
What is certain is that Meta's next, cheaper headset will have a significant impact on the development of the Quest platform over the next few years.
- Twitter: JustDaven
- RoadtoVR: Quest 2 is Vastly Outselling Quest 3 so Far This Holiday on Amazon
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