SteamVR in March 2022: Quest 2 is barely growing
February and March show: Meta has probably filled the growth potential in the PC VR market at the moment.
Valve's monthly hardware and software survey records all VR headsets that were connected to PCs with a Steam installation at least once in the month in question and whose users participate in the survey. Among other things, the statistics show the percentage of SteamVR users in the total Steam user base.
This was 2.14 percent in January 2022, 2.12 percent in February and 2.13 percent in March. The previous record is 2.31 percent (May 2021).
Since Steam had an average of 132 million monthly active users 2021, the 2.13 percent SteamVR userbase should roughly correspond to 2.8 million users with SteamVR-enabled VR headset.
SteamVR: Meta hits growth limit
The following statistics show the market share of VR headsets tracked by Steam in February and March 2022. Devices that have less than one percent market share are not listed.
VR users who exclusively use Meta platforms and Viveport and do not have Steam installed or do not participate in Steam data collection are not included in the statistics, nor are PSVR players and Meta Quest 1 & 2 users who use their VR headset in standalone mode only. Accordingly, the SteamVR statistics only reflect a rather small part of the entire VR market.
| February 2022 | March 2022 | Difference | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Meta Quest 2 | 47,09 % | 47,35 % | + 0,27 % |
| Valve Index | 14,43 % | 15,09 % | + 0,66 % |
| Oculus Rift S | 12,14 % | 11,60 % | - 0,54 % |
| HTC Vive | 7,27 % | 7,00 % | - 0,27 % |
| Windows Mixed Reality | 4,68 % | 4,86 % | + 0,17 % |
| Meta Quest | 3,83 % | 3,85 % | + 0,02 % |
| Oculus Rift | 4,10 % | 3,80 % | - 0,31 % |
| HTC Vive Cosmos | 1,48 % | 1,62 % | + 0,14 % |
| HTC Vive Pro | 1,55 % | 1,55 % | - 0,00 % |
| SteamVR user base | 2,12 % | 2,13 % | + 0,01 % |
In March, Valve Index grew the most, followed by Meta Quest 2, Windows Mixed Reality, and HTC Vive Cosmos. The latter placed ahead of HTC Vive Pro for the first time.
Older Meta glasses like Oculus Rift S (2019) and Oculus Rift (2016) have lost market share. The first Meta Quest (2019) now ranks ahead of Oculus Rift. The former market leader HTC Vive (2016) also suffered losses.
Meta dominates two-thirds of the PC VR market and there shouldn't be much more to come. | Diagram: MIXED
Meta Quest 2 saw its weakest growth in March since launching in October 2020, and Meta's overall SteamVR share fell for the second straight month to now 66.6 percent, exactly two-thirds. Both are signs that Meta's PC VR expansion has reached its limit.
For the time being, no major shifts in the statistics are expected. Neither Meta nor Valve nor any other manufacturer has announced VR headsets that could have a big impact on the overall picture.
PC VR market: Hopes for Playstation VR 2
How often and intensively SteamVR glasses are actually used cannot be seen from the above data. The following statistic, which shows the monthly average of maximum simultaneous SteamVR users, gives an idea.
This number reached a new high of 24,000 in January 2022, which dropped again to just under 18,000 players in March.
The Playstation VR 2 could have a positive effect on the PC VR market in the coming years. It is to be expected that more studios will develop high-end VR games again and some of these titles should also appear on SteamVR. Sony's new VR headset hasn't been released yet, and it should take a while for the platform to grow to a relevant size that has a ripple effect on SteamVR.
Past SteamVR Analysis:
- SteamVR in February 2022: Can Quest 2 continue to grow?
- SteamVR in January 2022: Meta dominates PC VR
- SteamVR in December 2021: Quest 2 picks up steam
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