OPINION : The Meta Quest 3 has finally been announced by Mark Zuckerberg , but with Meta dedicate it a surprising price hike , I ca n’t facilitate but experience that it ’s lost spate of what made the VR headset series so pop in the first place .
TheMeta Quest 3has a starting damage of $ 499/£499.99 , make it a whopping $ 200 more expensive than theQuest 2when it first launched back in 2020 – that ’s a staggering 40 % increase .
Suddenly , Meta can no longer take that its headset is importantly more affordable than the competition . ThePlayStation VR 2is only $ 50 more expensive , while thePico 4looks out an straight-out bargain by comparison at £ 379.99/€429 ( not usable in the USA ) .
I ’m a big sports fan of the Quest serial , but one of its peachy appeal is the affordable cost . As a issue , hiking up the cost of the Meta Quest 3 is a huge gamble .
I appreciate that the Quest 3 does look like a decent upgrade , with a new CPU and improved passthrough allow formixed realityapplications . But having used assorted reality devices already , such as the Vive XR Elite , I ’m not convince that there are enough applications / games to make it a worthwhile investment for the medium consumer whose main focal point is entertainment .
The timing of this reveal suggests that Meta is bank on the at hand launch ofApple ’s interracial reality headsetto trigger a gravy in interest in mixed world . That would also belike trigger an increase in production of mixed realness software package , of which Meta could benefit from .
But as with all new applied science , the great unwashed will most probably be sceptical about mixed realism at first . Spending $ 499 on a case of equipment they ’ve never used before is a major gamble , and one I depend a pile mass will be unwilling to take .
Virtual reality faced that same problem . When VR headsets first launched , they were ludicrously expensive , so it was mostly only enthusiast PC gamers with a circumstances of money that register any real interest . After all , who would want to trounce out $ 1000 on something they may potentially not savour .
The mass market really only became interested in practical reality once theOculus Questarrived with an affordable price and an all - in - one design that mean you did n’t need to purchase an expensive personal computer or console table to run it .
The excellent availability was the key reason why the Quest thrive . After all , it did n’t have the best glasses , design or carrying out . So to see Meta erase this central selling point is really bizarre .
The most likely account is that Meta but ca n’t open to keep selling newfangled Quest headsets at such a low Mary Leontyne Price . Zuckerberg was clearly banking on theMetaverseto sire a lot of money , allowing Meta to subsidise the cost of the headset , but it ’s possible that doubts are originate to creep in .
It ’s also worth noting that Meta initially wanted to wedge those with a Meta headset into creating / using a Facebook business relationship . Now the ship’s company has turn that decisiveness due to public outcry , it can no longer trust on the VR headsets boost revenue for Facebook .
no matter of Meta ’s reasoning , it does n’t change the fact that the $ 499/£499.99 price will likely bend off the legal age of the great unwashed from bribe the headset . you could corrupt aPS5orXbox Series Xfor that sort of immediate payment . As a result , I just ca n’t see the Quest 3 sustain the same level of achiever as its predecessors , which will be a ignominy since Meta has so far done such a great job of making virtual reality accessible .
