Facebook parent company Meta announced today that it is increasing the price of its Meta Quest 2 virtual reality headsets by $100, making the 128GB version $400 and the 256GB version $500. The price change is expected to take effect on August 1.
Meta isn’t adding any new features to the Quest 2 to justify the price increase, and the company says it’s adjusting the price to “continue investing to move the VR industry forward for the long term.”
We’ve been all about VR from the early days of PC and mobile, through to today’s high-end standalone 6DOF headsets – and we’ve invested billions of dollars to help nurture a thriving VR ecosystem. Now we’re making a change that will help us continue to invest for the long term and continue to drive the VR industry forward with best-in-class hardware, action-packed games, and cutting-edge research on way to the real next – generation devices.
Manufacturing and shipping costs for Quest 2 VR headsets have increased, which is why Meta is raising its prices. The additional funds will allow Meta to invest in “breakthrough research and development of new products”. One such product is a new high-end headset called Project Cambria, which will likely compete with Apple’s AR/VR headset due out in 2023.
Apple is expected to charge upwards of $2,000 for its headset, so it’s not a device that will be on par with the Quest VR, and will instead compete with much higher-end devices when it launches.
Meta says it also plans to increase the prices of Meta Quest 2 accessories and refurbished units, but to mitigate the price hike, every new headset purchase will include the Beat Saber VR game for free. Meta claims that even with the price changes, the Meta Quest 2 is “the most affordable VR headset with a comparable feature set on the market”, and it will “continue to improve after your purchase”.
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