Quest 2 VR headset prices are going up $100

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xCLAVEx

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Here's a bold business strategy you don't see every day: In order to facilitate the continued growth of virtual reality and the metaverse, Meta is increasing the price of its Quest 2 VR headsets by $100 on August 1. That means the price of the 128GB model will go from $299 to $399, while the 256GB unit will jump from $399 to $499.

Generally speaking, it's more common for companies to lower the prices of their products when they're trying to encourage more widespread consumer adoption, but in Facebook's—sorry, Meta's—defense, it, uhh, wants more money.

"From gaming and productivity to fitness and beyond, VR has become increasingly popular as it positively impacts the ways we work, play, and connect with each other," the company said in a blog post(opens in new tab). "People have spent over $1 billion on Meta Quest apps, helping to fuel developers’ businesses as they deliver the games and experiences that make VR great.

"At the same time, the costs to make and ship our products have been on the rise. By adjusting the price of Quest 2, we can continue to grow our investment in groundbreaking research and new product development that pushes the VR industry to new heights."

Meta touted its planned release of a new high-end VR headset(opens in new tab) later this year, and said it has teams "dedicated to advancing the state of the art" in areas including hardware, haptics, interfaces, and more. It also claimed that even with the price hike, "Meta Quest 2 continues to be the most affordable VR headset with a comparable feature set on the market."

"Now’s the right time for us to double down on our efforts to push the state of the art forward," Meta said. "We’ll continue working alongside the developers, early adopters, and die-hard fans who play and build for VR every day, and we can’t wait to keep sharing the work we’re doing at Reality Labs on the road to the metaverse."

The price hike comes as Meta appears to be struggling to achieve its vision for the metaverse and position on the social media food chain. A recent Verge(opens in new tab) report says that Facebook is facing real pressure from newer platforms like Tiktok, while ad revenues have been dramatically impacted by recent changes to Apple's privacy options(opens in new tab) that give users much more control over the ads they're fed.

Yet while Meta's growth is slowing, the metaverse itself is still likely years away from profitability: In Meta's Q1 earnings call in April, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said that products coming out of Reality Labs(opens in new tab), the branch of Meta that produces VR and AR hardware and software, won't be a "big revenue or profit contributor" until the market grows significantly.

"Maybe primarily, this is laying the groundwork for what I expect to be a very exciting 2030s when this is like—when this is sort of more established as the primary computing platform at that point," Zuckerberg said (via RoadtoVR(opens in new tab)).

The good news, such as it is, is that everyone who buys a Quest 2 after the price hike takes effect (until December 31) will get a copy of the 2018 VR rhythm game Beat Saber(opens in new tab), which normally sells for $30 on Steam, for free. And if you'd rather save $100 than $30, you've got until August 1—just under a week—to snag a Quest 2 headset at its current price.

https://www.pcgamer.com/quest-2-vr-headset-prices-are-going-up-dollar100/#comment-jump
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So...facebook thinks by raising the price $100, more people will buy it...yeah...:nuts:
 
I think what is actually happening is them setting up proper expectations for the Quest 3. It has been stated my Meta before their goal is to make new technologies and put it into a more expensive, different market headset, and then eventually bring it to the main line Quest series. People have been questioning how they are going to put these new technologies into the main line quest at $300 and not take a huge loss on the headset. Well, I think we just got that answer, they are setting the stage for the base price to be $399, and it wouldn't be unreasonable now to assume that the base Quest 3 would also be $399, where as before people could easily assume $299.
 
Eisberg said:
I think what is actually happening is them setting up proper expectations for the Quest 3. It has been stated my Meta before their goal is to make new technologies and put it into a more expensive, different market headset, and then eventually bring it to the main line Quest series. People have been questioning how they are going to put these new technologies into the main line quest at $300 and not take a huge loss on the headset. Well, I think we just got that answer, they are setting the stage for the base price to be $399, and it wouldn't be unreasonable now to assume that the base Quest 3 would also be $399, where as before people could easily assume $299.
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:yes: :yes:

That, and just an acknowledgement that electronics prices have inflated.
everything is inflated.

Still strange to see prices for any game console go up though. But realistically, all game console prices have been way up during the pandemic & chip shortage. Quest 2 has been practically the only thing that has been widely available at msrp.

And frankly, Quest 2 has no competitor pushing prices down. Quest 2 is kindof a ridiculous product actually.
 
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xCLAVEx said:
So...facebook thinks by raising the price $100, more people will buy it...yeah...:nuts:
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I don't follow your conclusion that they think more people will buy it. I think at best, Meta doesn't expect their Quest 2 market to suddenly collapse if the product is priced higher.
 
twonha said:
I don't follow your conclusion that they think more people will buy it. I think at best, Meta doesn't expect their Quest 2 market to suddenly collapse if the product is priced higher.
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Strange that they did it all at once. If I were them, I would have done 2 separate $50 increases, 6 months apart.

Question is, do they expect that Quest 2 is a strong enough product that it will continue to sell at the new price, or have they decided that the primary sales cycle for Quest 2 is now over, and they don't expect anyone to buy it anyway?
 
xCLAVEx said:
Not my conclusion, read the article.
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Again, I'm not following. You said it, so it's your conclusion, but I see nothing in the article that indicates that Meta thinks their price hike will sell them more Quest 2 headsets.
 
twonha said:
Again, I'm not following. You said it, so it's your conclusion, but I see nothing in the article that indicates that Meta thinks their price hike will sell them more Quest 2 headsets.
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The very first sentence in the article proper;

It might seem like a weird way to encourage further adoption of VR, but on the other hand, Meta wants more money.
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First two paragraphs;

Here's a bold business strategy you don't see every day: In order to facilitate the continued growth of virtual reality and the metaverse, Meta is increasing the price of its Quest 2 VR headsets by $100 on August 1. That means the price of the 128GB model will go from $299 to $399, while the 256GB unit will jump from $399 to $499.

Generally speaking, it's more common for companies to lower the prices of their products when they're trying to encourage more widespread consumer adoption, but in Facebook's—sorry, Meta's—defense, it, uhh, wants more money.
Click to expand...

This is a parsing of phrases, trying to "encourage wider adoption" of VR means selling more as there is no other metric of putting a product to greater use (you have to use it more or more of it in order to facilitate greater use).

So once again, not my words. Follow?
 
xCLAVEx said:
The very first sentence in the article proper;
First two paragraphs;
This is a parsing of phrases, trying to "encourage wider adoption" of VR means selling more as there is no other metric of putting a product to greater use (you have to use it more or more of it in order to facilitate greater use).
So once again, not my words. Follow?
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First sentence says Meta wants more money, not more people buying it.

To facilitate continued growth, they're raising prices; but that facilitation means putting more money into their banks for their future product development (metaverse), it does not mean more people buying Quest 2 headsets.

Last sentence confirms it. You'd expect Meta to want to lower their prices and sell more Quest 2 headsets. Instead, they're making them more expensive for more money per headset, instead of more users.

I suspect they're gearing up for the next Quest headset, and it wouldn't surprise me if Meta in fact doesn't want everyone to have a Quest 2. The more people buy a Q2 now, the fewer people are going to want to buy your next headset in half a year to a year. But if you really, really, really want to buy a Q2 now, then they're okay with that, at a premium price. :lol:
 
twonha said:
First sentence says Meta wants more money, not more people buying it.

To facilitate continued growth, they're raising prices; but that facilitation means putting more money into their banks for their future product development (metaverse), it does not mean more people buying Quest 2 headsets.

Last sentence confirms it. You'd expect Meta to want to lower their prices and sell more Quest 2 headsets. Instead, they're making them more expensive for more money per headset, instead of more users.

I suspect they're gearing up for the next Quest headset, and it wouldn't surprise me if Meta in fact doesn't want everyone to have a Quest 2. The more people buy a Q2 now, the fewer people are going to want to buy your next headset in half a year to a year. But if you really, really, really want to buy a Q2 now, then they're okay with that, at a premium price. :lol:
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I actually was thinking about getting one at the $300 price range over the next few months, however upping it by $100 for the same hardware has made the decision for me...a big nope.
 
Is it true they were selling it at a loss to begin with? They missed earnings today so that might have something to do with it.
 
They should be upping the price with a new released model, not one that has been out how long now.:nuts:

Edit:
Coming up on 2 years old in Oct, that would be a hard pass from me if I were buying now. I think $299 is the right price point for the low-end model and especially since it's coming up on 2 years old.
 
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Nascar24 said:
They should be upping the price with a new released model, not one that has been out how long now.:nuts:

Edit:
Coming up on 2 years old in Oct, that would be a hard pass from me if I were buying now. I think $299 is the right price point for the low-end model and especially since it's coming up on 2 years old.
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For anyone that doesn't have VR and is thinking of buying one, now would be the time to do it. Buy the quest 2 now before the price goes up and wait to activate it until next week and get beat saber for free.
 
jjjayb said:
For anyone that doesn't have VR and is thinking of buying one, now would be the time to do it. Buy the quest 2 now before the price goes up and wait to activate it until next week and get beat saber for free.
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agreed get the 128gb version, these were deliberately sold at a loss by FB/Meta (also FB is no longer a requirement) to increase the VR population to go forward with Metaverse plans and encourage developers and investors, etc.

Also the wireless mode is a god send and genuinely enhances the experience, rather than being tethered to your PC.
 
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