Virtual reality has hardly shone this year. According to figures from CCS Insight, global shipments of VR headsets are down 12% this year compared to 2021 (the company counted 9.6 million units shipped). These sluggish results are a serious problem for companies that have staked part of their future on virtual and mixed reality: to make the most of these universes, you actually need to have a headset.
Meta, the main proponent of consumer VR, hasn’t really helped turn headset sales around. Not only is the Quest 2 a few years old now (it came out in October 2020), but the company also made a solid price increase last summer.
Meta increases the price of its Quest 2 headset by 100 euros
The only consolation for Meta: the Meta Quest App on Christmas Day jumped Number one in the American App Store ranking, a sign that despite its increasing price, the Quest 2 found itself under some trees in the United States (but not elsewhere, in many countries the application doesn’t even appear in the top 10).
That didn’t stop sales from plummeting 2% in the United States, according to the NPD Group. The value corresponds to 1.1 billion US dollars. And since the Quest 2 is the undisputed market leader worldwide, this drop in sales must also have hit Meta. However, the comparison must be put into perspective: VR had a very good year in 2021, with good sales at Christmas.
2023 is unlikely to show more momentum for VR in general given budgets are tight and prices are high. It’s not the €1,799 Quest Pro that will change much. There’s the PSVR 2 at Sony, which is expected in February, but its market is much more limited than Quest’s: you’ll need a PlayStation 5 to use it.
The market could be saved by Apple’s future mixed reality headset, but even then it’s difficult to call it a consumer product. The device could actually cost between $2,000 and $3,000, maybe even more… This prospect doesn’t bode well for Meta’s investments in the development of its metaverse: it’s very expensive for mediocre results, be it at the technical level or for the few users .
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