While Christmas and New Year's have passed us by, Meta has one last treat in store for those still yet to hop aboard the virtual reality bandwagon — and it could be the push VR needs to make the Metaverse mainstream in 2024.
Nearly three months on from the launch of its latest virtual/augmented reality headset, Meta Quest 3, the Zuckerberg-led brand is permanently lowering the price of its most popular headset the Meta Quest 2, and a number of its best accessories.
The Quest 2 for just $249? You Meta believe it.
The Quest 2 is Meta's best-selling headset, and with good reason. Its $300 launch price offered a jaw-droppingly low barrier of entry into the virtual realms of gaming and productivity built atop the success of the Oculus platform. Sadly, Meta's magical MSRP would only last so long with the headset eventually climbing in price to $400 in 2022.
However, kicking off 2024, the Meta Quest 2's price is finally returning to those more attractive launch window levels again — and then some. In a recent blog post, Meta announced that it will be permanently lowering the price of headsets and accessories across its Quest 2 catalog.
From today you can snag your own Quest 2 headset for as little as $249.99 (or $299.99 for the 256GB model) with many top accessories available for less also, like the Quest's Elite Strap with battery now just $89.99 (down from $119).
Outlook
Meta's price shift for the Quest 2 makes perfect sense with a busy year inbound for headsets of its ilk, especially with Apple's super-premium Vision Pro slated to release soon. VR adoption hasn't gone exactly to plan as many would have hoped, and if this tech is ever set to take off in a big way, you'd presume that 2024 would be the year that makes or breaks it.
With a more accessible price than ever, a huge library of content behind it, and growing interest in virtual, augmented, and mixed-reality experiences this could be a key decision in making VR live up to its game-changing potential. Will 2024 be the year VR finally breaks into the mainstream in a big way? At this new price point, anything is possible.
