In an unprecedented move, Meta has announced that it is raising the price of its normally affordable Quest 2 headphones by $100 starting August 1st. Although Meta claims the price hike is meant to allow the company to invest more in VR in the hopes of “moving.” the VR industry even more,” I remain skeptical of the plausibility of this outcome. The move will not only hurt the wallets of VR fans, but will also hurt Meta’s goals as it tries to turn the Metaverse into a main experience
This is bad news for technology advocates who are already struggling to get the idea across to users. Ever since companies like Meta made it a buzzword, the Metaverse has garnered a fair amount of skepticism. Meta’s aggressive marketing push has often come off as underdeveloped and overconfident, especially considering the concept has been around for literal decades through titles like Second Life or even Fortnite. Now combine this cocky launch with the fact that Meta has been in hot water since its Facebook days after multiple lawsuits over privacy issues.
The Metaverse already got off to a bad start with the company’s target audience; now, it’s going to cost skeptics more money to even get access to it with Quest 2.
Growing Metaverse Concerns
The price hike seems fundamentally at odds with what Meta wants to achieve with VR. The company wants to make the Metaverse accessible to everyone through VR headsets, specifically the Quest 2. Now, the price of entry has risen from the $300-$400 range to $400-$500, mainly limiting the interested (or even able) people. ) when shopping there. It seems like $400-$500 is worth paying to try a technology that isn’t expected to find its place until at least 2027, especially considering it used to be $100 cheaper.
With people already uncomfortable with Meta’s ability to properly handle something as potentially invasive as the Metaverse, the extra $100 it will cost to get in may be the last straw for those already on the fence. Additionally, Quest 2’s price hike has raised many questions about the pricing of future Meta hardware.
Nothing has been officially announced when it comes to other hardware that Meta might eventually release that will be compatible with the Metaverse, but whether the company is willing to introduce such a drastic price increase for a piece of hardware that has almost two years, there is nothing stopping him from doing something similar with other products in the line. It sets an unusual precedent for anything that might come next for Meta’s VR plans, eating away at the company’s already thin goodwill with users.
Math meta money
From an outside perspective, the price jump seems arbitrary, which certainly won’t help the general public’s mistrust of the company. The Quest 2 doesn’t get any new features or tweaks that justify the price increase on the hardware side. The company’s reasoning is that it needs the extra $100 with each purchase to invest more in VR, but that seems like little on paper. Meta doesn’t need more money to do anything.
It was recently announced during an earnings report that Meta lost $2.8 billion on Reality Labs, the company that runs Meta’s VR efforts. While that’s a lot of money to lose on a business pivot, in the grand scheme of Meta’s overall earnings, it’s not that much. The same report announced that Meta had earned $28 billion in the second quarter of 2022, putting the loss into perspective. Additionally, Mark Zuckerberg made it clear that Meta is still doubling down on VR and the Metaverse despite the loss. He said he believes “even more strongly now that the development of these platforms will unlock hundreds of billions of dollars, if not trillions over time.”
Meta Quest
Losing $2 billion is a big deal for any company, but when you look at Meta’s earnings, it’s clear that it still has a long way to go if it’s as committed to its pivot as it says it is. The Meta Quest 2 is already the most popular VR headset ever made. If Meta continues to support it, it should continue to increase its reach unless the general hunger for VR dies down. Meta clearly believes in the Quest 2, and for good reason, so raising its price across the board seems like a backward move that can only hurt the hardware’s momentum and the future of its Metaverse ambitions.
Following the announcement of Quest 2’s price hike, it’s clear that the list of consumer concerns clouding the company’s vision of the Metaverse isn’t going away anytime soon. The company needs users to fill its virtual rooms and hangouts more than it needs cash right now, as its earnings reports show. If the ticket to get in the gate is too prohibitive for users, it could spell disaster for the Metaverse before it even gets off the ground.
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