Financial Associated Press, March 4th local time on Friday, meta universe concept stock announced on its official website that it will adjust the prices of its two VR head-mounted devices. Among them, the price of the 256GB version of Meta Quest 2 will be reduced from $499.99 to $429.99, while the high-end model Quest Pro will be directly reduced from $1499.99 to $999.99.
It is worth mentioning that the price of the 128GB version of Meta Quest 2 has not changed, which also means that the price difference between the two models is only 30 US dollars.
The company disclosed that the price adjustment of Meta Quest 2 will take effect from March 5th, the price of Quest Pro in the United States and Canada will also be adjusted at the same time, and the remaining regions will have to wait until March 15th.
The price of Quest Pro has been slashed half a year after its launch
For the price cut, Zuckerberg said on social media that he "hopes this will allow more people to enter the world of VR." However, the market has given different views on the price cuts of these two products.
The price reduction of Meta Quest 2 is likely to be a pre-launch inventory clearance for the next generation product (Meta Quest 3). Meta CFO David Weiner said late last year that a "next generation of Quest headsets" would arrive later in 2023. By convention, Meta's annual Connect event in the fall is the most likely time to introduce new products. In an interview, Zuckerberg also expected that the price of Quest 3 would still be in the range of 300-500 US dollars.
By the way, Meta raised the price of the 256GB version of Quest 2 from $399 to $499 last summer due to "production costs", so the price adjustment this time can be said to be not too obvious.
But for Meta Quest Pro, it's a different story. This product was released at the Connect event in October last year, and it hasn't even arrived for half a year. However, due to the ultra-high price and the lack of attractive productivity scenarios in the VR industry, it has caused an embarrassing state of "professional users don't like it, and ordinary users don't want to buy it". In the face of sluggish sales, Meta had launched a "limited-time price reduction to $1,099" event in some regions earlier this year, and this time it adjusted the price in one step.
Meta's financial report also shows that Reality Labs, which includes headset sales, will achieve a total revenue of US$2.16 billion in 2022, a decline from US$2.27 billion in the previous year, and an overall loss of US$13.7 billion.
Just showed the roadmap for the next four years
Of course, the company's exploration in the VR industry will not stop there, and it will continue to burn money in the next few years. According to media reports this week, Meta executives presented thousands of employees on Tuesday with a roadmap for the development of AR/VR devices for the next four years.
According to the report, Mark Rabkin, vice president in charge of AR/VR, told employees that as Quest 2 enters its third year, it is already difficult to immerse new purchasers. The company hopes that the upcoming Quest 3 will make consumers willing to "spend a little more money", while also launching an entry-level product in 2024, which aims to attract users into the world of VR at the lowest possible price. As for the poorly-reviewed Pro series, it may have to wait until the launch of new entry-level products in 2024.
In addition to the headsets, Meta currently has thousands of employees working on AR glasses and hand devices to control them. Compared with the current products on the market, Meta hopes to develop a product that users can wear all day and can replace mobile phones.