Meta's Dropping Prices for Its VR Headsets
Meta's (META) VR headsets are getting a major, but perhaps unavoidable, price cut, largely because consumers are, well, just not buying as many as expect.
The company today announced that it's slashing prices for its still-new Meta Quest Pro from $1,499.99 to $999.99, while its Meta Quest 2 is dropping from $499.99 to $429.99. For the Meta Quest Pro, which was touted at its launch as being geared towards businesses, that's a roughly 33% drop – and a noteworthy fall from the fanfare with which it was launched in conjunction with support from Microsoft (MSFT) and Accenture (ACN).
Waning consumer interest isn't a Meta-specific problem – the VR market, along with the games industry at-large, saw its 2022 sales drop 2% year-over-year to $1.1 billion, according to research from NDP. But the company's even struggled to keep even new headset owners interested in the product. (Meta VP of VR Mark Rabkin recently broke the news to employees, according to a Feb. 28 report by The Verge.)
“Sadly, the newer cohorts that are coming in, the people who bought it this last Christmas, they’re just not as into it, as the ones who bought it early,” he said, per The Verge.
Said IDC Research Director Ramon Llamas: "The market for second-hand and refurbished devices allows consumers to swoop in at a lower price and, if we count the specter of inflation, consumers are smart and they'll find a way to get what they want for less"
He added: "This is part of a macro move, especially because I think it's too early for me to say that they're cleaning out Quest 2 inventory, since the Quest 3 doesn't show up until the end of the year."
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