The Meta Quest 3 has finally been officially revealed by Mark Zuckerburg following months of rumours. But it’s not the only VR headset with a 2023 launch, with the PlayStation VR 2 hitting stores back in February.
So how do these virtual reality headsets compare, and which is going to be the best option for you? We’ve compiled this guide to highlight all of the key differences. So without further ado, here’s how the Meta Quest 3 and PlayStation VR 2 compare.
One of the most surprising aspects about the Meta Quest 3 is that it will cost significantly more than its predecessors, with a starting price of $499.
Meta is still just about undercutting the cost of the PlayStation VR 2, which is priced at $549. But it’s interesting to see the price gap close between them, making them direct competitors.
The PlayStation VR 2 requires a PS5
One of the key selling points of the Meta Quest series is that they don’t need an external device to function. Simply power-on the headset and slip onto your head, and you can enter virtual worlds right away.
In comparison, the PlayStation VR 2 needs to be plugged into the PS5 in order to function, even for less intensive games such as Beat Saber. This is because the PlayStation VR 2 lacks an integrated chip, while Meta has confirmed the Quest 3 will be powered by a next-gen Qualcomm chip with a 2x graphics performance boost compared to the Quest 2.
The Quest 3 offers mixed reality experiences
The headline feature on the Meta Quest 3 is the high-fidelity colour Passthrough, which allows users to see their surroundings with plenty of detail.
This won’t just be useful for finding your controllers while wearing the headset, but will open up the opportunity for developers to create apps and games that allow you to interact with your real-world surroundings while simultaneously marvelling at virtual creations.
The PlayStation VR 2 also has cameras on the front for passthrough, but the quality is so low that it’s only useful for setting up your play boundary. The fidelity is too low to enable support for mixed reality applications, and so the PlayStation VR 2 will be limited to VR experiences.
Quest 3 has access to 500 games, apps and experiences
One of the most controversial elements of the PlayStation VR 2 is that it’s not backwards compatible with its predecessor. That means Sony has to build up its library from scratch, so there aren’t a huge number of games and apps available as of yet. And if you own any games for the original PlayStation VR, you’ll need to buy them again for PSVR 2 (and that’s assuming they’re even available).
Meta has smartly avoided this issue by making the Meta Quest 3 backwards compatible. That means it’s compatible with the Quest 2 library of 500 VR games, apps, and experiences.
This means that Meta Quest 3 will undoubtedly have better game support than the PlayStation VR 2 in 2023. It’s possible that Sony could catch up by releasing numerous third-party and first-party games for its VR platforms, but it’s got an awful lot of catching up to do in order to offer the same breadth of titles as the Quest.
