Starting in August, the Meta Quest 2 will cost $399.99 for the 128GB model and $499.99 for the 256GB model, the company said. On the Facebook Store, these models are currently priced at $299 and $399, respectively. Prices are also going up on Meta Quest 2 accessories and refurbished units, Meta said. In a blog post, Meta (formerly known as Facebook) tried to explain that the unprecedented hardware price increase “will help us continue to invest for the long term and continue to drive the VR industry forward with the best hardware in class-leading, action-packed games and cutting-edge research on the path to truly next-generation devices.” Meta added that “the cost of manufacturing and shipping our products has increased. By adjusting the price of Quest 2, we can continue to increase our investment in groundbreaking research and development of new products that push the VR industry to new heights.” The company is trying to soften the blow of Quest 2’s $100 price hike by including a free download of the popular VR rhythm game Beat Saber. This game is currently on sale for $29.99 on the Meta Quest Store. As Meta points out, the company has other VR headsets on its product roadmap, including hardware codenamed Project Cambria. Due for release later this year, the headset aims to bring remote working to virtual reality and is said to start at $799. The Cambria is just one of four new VR headset models said to be coming from Meta. In 2023, there will be a new version of Meta’s lower-end Quest headphones. In 2024, both Cambria and Quest will be refreshed with newer versions. Meta’s announced Quest 2 price hike comes on the same day that The Verge published a report on growing pressure on Facebook, Instagram and Meta’s other businesses. News of the price increase also comes on the same day that Sony Interactive Entertainment revealed new features (but not pricing) for its highly anticipated PlayStation 5 headset, the PlayStation VR2. The price increase on the Meta Quest 2 hardware is definitely atypical for hardware like VR headsets. Hardware prices tend to fall, not rise, over time to attract more customers as component costs fall and software revenue rises with an expanding user base. The move seems at odds with the increased adoption of virtual reality that Mark Zuckerberg is banking on, leaning hard into the metaverse. But with Meta facing shrinking revenue, a stock price worth half of what it was last year, and an ambitious return on its $2 billion investment in Oculus VR, everything seems to be on the table for the company.
