It’s a battle that was always going to get a little messy, but we didn’t expect to see it peak so soon. Meta is not only gearing up for the release of the Meta Quest 3 headset this week, but it already has one eye on the future as it marks Apple’s Vision Pro as a serious competitor.
There is a focus on factors such as price and market accessibility which has Meta on high alert, and its response makes a ton of sense. Instead of going back into the super-premium space and attempting to release another one of the best VR headsets for gaming, Meta will instead work on reducing costs associated with the Quest 3 before reworking their upper-tier hardware strategy.
Mark Gurman of Bloomberg reports that it’s possible for a Quest 3 model to be released that includes no controllers. The idea is that without the added cost of the Pro Touch controllers, Meta can bring the Quest 3 back down to the $300 price point, which is where the Quest 2 launched.
Meta would then reevaluate its approach to the Quest Pro, which fell flat with the public, and attempt to launch a new piece of hardware that’s similar in quality, but offers an experience that can rival the unreleased Apple Vision Pro.
Gurman notes that these are not solid plans and are just some of the ideas being bounded around by Meta. Given that the Meta Quest is predominantly a gaming-focused device, removing the controllers and relying on hand-tracking is a bold move, but one that isn’t impossible.
It’s worth noting that the Apple Vision Pro is not being pushed as a gaming device and won’t include controllers either. The Meta Quest 3 being one-seventh the cost of a Vision Pro also raises questions as to why Meta would be focusing so heavily on price.
Well, Gurman touches on this by stating that “it’s hard to bet against Apple”, and “the Vision Pro may lead consumers to embrace mixed reality in a way they haven’t before”. So Meta is concerned that even with the inflated price of the Vision Pro, Apple branding and trust factor could see a pickup in the adoption rate of their new tech.
With the Meta Quest 3 release date almost upon us, you can check out some of the best VR games of 2023 to see what you’ve missed out on so far.