VR headsets are as cheap as ever, but at what cost?
VR headsets are now cheaper than ever. This is great for consumers, but raises questions about the sustainability of the VR market.
Today is Black Friday and the manufacturers Meta, Sony and Pico are outbidding each other with deals. Here's an overview to give you an idea:
- At $300, Meta Quest 3S is already the most affordable VR headset on the market. Adjusted for inflation, it is significantly cheaper than Meta Quest 2 when it launched four years ago. The purchase includes Batman: Arkham Shadow ($50 value) and three months of Meta Quest+ ($24 value). In addition to that, Amazon and Target are currently offering a $75 coupon for the purchase of a Quest 3S, and those who purchase the device with a friend will also receive a $30 Horizon Store credit that can be used to purchase games. If you were to subtract all of these amounts from the retail price, the Meta Quest 3S would cost $121.
- Playstation VR 2 is currently discounted up to $250 (33-40 percent off).
- The Pico 4 Ultra (not available in the US) is currently being sold in a Black Friday bundle that includes motion trackers for full-body tracking, three VR games, and a VRChat subscription for the equivalent of $170.
Getting into virtual reality has never been cheaper in terms of all the technology and software you get, whether you just want to play standalone or on the Playstation 5 or PC. That's great for us consumers, but for the industry as a whole, this race to the bottom raises questions.
The other side of the coin
When prices drop this much, it's often a sign of a lack of demand. The Playstation VR 2 was too expensive to begin with, and with the current discount, Sony is finally responding to the realities of the market, even if it means making lower or no margins on hardware sales.
On the other hand, Meta's willingness to subsidize seems endless, and it doesn't take an economist to see that Meta must be spending a lot more than it's making. After a slowdown that started in 2023, Meta's ecosystem needs to grow again by bringing in new customers, and making old customers switch from Meta Quest 2 to the new generation of devices. That's why Meta invests so heavily in Meta Quest 3S, no matter the cost.
The price increase in Meta Quest 2 in the summer of 2022 shows that things can also go the other way. Back then, Meta raised the price by $100, citing increased manufacturing costs. It's highly unusual for a consumer electronic device to get pricier instead of cheaper almost two years after its release, and I don't think it was just due to manufacturing costs. Meta Quest 2 was at the height of its success in the summer of 2022, and Meta wanted to capitalize on that.
Virtual reality will only become a viable and sustainable market when there is evidence that consumers are willing to spend more rather than less on hardware and software, and when prices rise rather than fall as the value of the devices increases. This does not appear to be the case at present.
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