It looks like Meta (Facebook) is starting to realize that it needs to be affordable if it is going to continue to be competitive. Leading to some upcoming price drops for both the Meta Quest 2 256GB edition (previously the Oculus Quest 2) and the new Meta Quest Pro headsets.
Most notably, the company announced today that it plans to drop the price of the Meta Quest Pro headset by $500. This will bring the price of the Quest Pro to $999, making for a smart move by the company. Especially, as more companies continue to pop up looking to get into the VR/AR industry. Meta also probably realized that few parties were interested in the Quest Pro at its MSRP listing. By lowering it, it opens availability a little to other types of users (aka, consumers) that might be willing to give it a chance.
Meanwhile, the Quest 2 had suffered a price increase last year that also likely affected sales. Many sources such as ourselves have recommended waiting for its price to come back down as it just wasn’t worth paying additional money for (it was already two years old as is). If anything the price should come down a little, not up.
Although the Quest 2 isn’t exactly dropping below it’s original MSRP, it will be dropping to $429 (from $499), which is a start (256GB version). Keeping in mind that the Quest 2 originally launched between $299-$399 depending on the version you purchased. So there is still some improvement needed in the price (yet).
As for the 128GB version, it will be remaining at its current $399 price tag until further notice. We may see its price drop eventually as well, or maybe the company is looking toward getting rid of it by bringing the price gap closer together, making the 256GB more appealing.
The new pricing is set to take affect on March 5th (two days from now). Hopefully, all retailers will follow suit as well. Meanwhile, it is still projected that the company will be launching the Meta Quest 3 sometime in the late half of this year. The new headset will need a notable upgrade in order to keep up with alternatives, such as the PSVR2. So it will be interesting to see where Meta goes from here.