Meta Quest Pro, Quest 2 Get a price cut in select regions as the company faces declining revenue as a Reality Labs unit
Meta Platforms has slashed the prices of its virtual reality headsets in hopes of sparking demand for its virtual reality hardware, as its bold bets on the metaverse have struggled to make a big splash.
The flagship Meta Quest Pro version will retail for $999 (roughly Rs. 81,700), down from its launch price of $1,499 (roughly Rs. 1,22,500 crores), and the 256GB Quest 2 version for $429 (roughly Rs. 35,000). ) from $499 (roughly Rs. 41,000), CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a blog post on Friday.
The company cited lower Quest 2 sales as the reason behind a 17 percent drop in fourth-quarter revenue in its Reality Labs unit, which includes virtual reality-related offerings.
The division lost $13.7 billion (roughly Rs. 1,12,000) last year and more than $10 billion (roughly Rs. 81,700) in 2021.
The price reduction on the Meta Quest 2 256GB version will be effective from March 5th in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Norway, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, the United Kingdom and the United States, where Meta Quest Pro will begin to drop in price starting March 5 in the United States and Canada and March 15 in all other countries where Meta Quest Pro is supported.
The Meta Corporation is facing heavy criticism from investors for pouring money into the metaverse that has not reaped benefits as expected.
Late last year, the company launched the Quest Pro, making it the most advanced VR headset with capabilities to push use cases even further.
The Quest Pro, with its outdoor cameras that capture a live 3D feed of the physical environment and allows novelties like the ability to hang virtual paintings on a wall in the real world, was aimed at designers, architects, and other creative professionals.
Meta has recently awakened its stance on the metaverse and is focusing on cost savings. The company has dubbed 2023 the “Year of Efficiency” and expects to cut billions in spending this year.
While VR headsets have added more advanced capabilities recently, their adoption outside the gaming community has been slow.
Last month, Tencent, the world’s largest video game publisher, shelved plans to venture into virtual reality hardware while it was in talks to distribute Meta Quest products in China.
© Thomson Reuters 2022
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