The Meta Quest 3 has just been announced, revealing a headset starting at a price of £499/$499. Those averse to costly VR headsets may be disappointed but the Meta Quest 2 is, thankfully, getting a price cut, with a performance boost on top too.
In July of last year, Meta slapped £100/$100 onto the price of the Quest 2 headset. What was once the best value offering in VR had been ruined by a higher price tag. Well, alongside the launch of the Quest 3, Meta may win some fans back.
The Meta Quest 2 is returning to a starting price of £299/$299 from June 4th, so keep your eyes peeled for the more appealing price returning to the popular headset.
That’s not all though. Meta is touting a big boost in performance for the Quest 2 and Quest Pro, all via a software update. You can expect an up to 26% CPU performance boost for both headsets, then an up to 19% GPU performance boost for the Quest 2 and up to 11% for the Pro.
What does it mean in practice? I’ll let Meta explain, “As developers take advantage of these changes, you can expect smoother gameplay, a more responsive UI, and richer content on both headsets. And we’re enabling Dynamic Resolution Scaling for both Quest 2 and Quest Pro, so games and apps can take advantage of increased pixel density without dropping frames.”
With the Meta Quest 2 returning to its original price, three years after its launch, and a new dose of performance, the appeal of the value-focused headset could peak once again, especially with the £499/$499 price of the new Meta Quest 3 likely to look a tad too rich in the eyes of some.
Though, we don’t yet know the full Meta Quest 3 details, beyond much-improved performance, a slimmer and more comfortable design and a greater focus on AR passthrough. For that, Meta says we’ll have to wait until September 27th for Meta Connect. There is also a Meta Gaming Showcase today (June 1st) where you can see upcoming games for your future (or about to be performance-boosted) VR headset.
