6 ms·

The implication here is the demand for Oculus is higher than for Xboxes. But Xbox has been extremely difficult to buy this past year, where an Oculus is readily

The implication here is the demand for Oculus is higher than for Xboxes. But Xbox has been extremely difficult to buy this past year, where an Oculus is readily available. Still an interesting data point, but misleading on its own.

dado3212 5y ago
This years sales have beaten the last 5 years of Xbox sales, so not sure how convincing supply chain issues are.
- emodendroket 5y ago
  The Xbox One was also a distant also-ran to the PS4.
- puchatek 5y ago
  I'm that case the title could also be made more accurate
- Matthias247 5y ago
  I tried buying a series X for 4 month with no luck. Everything which shows up online is sold out within seconds. So yes - the supply chain issues are very real.
wyldfire 5y ago
Maybe the demand for new gaming experiences is being satisfied by Oculus due to lower costs and better availability. Maybe it's not misleading at all if Meta starts to eat the share of dollars/hours. Only time will tell if people will continue to use them beyond their initial novelty.
- innocentoldguy 5y ago
  I agree with you and it will be interesting to see how this plays out. Personally, I purchased an Oculus Quest 2 and a Valve Index about nine months ago because I couldn't find a Playstation or Xbox system in stock. I wasn't expecting much from either system (especially the Quest 2, since it is basically a cell phone with goggles and a couple of hand controllers) but they've both grown on me. I love the Quest's portability and the Index's screen resolution and adjustability are excellent. Meta's customer support for warranty issues has also been excellent (much, much, MUCH nicer than Sony's). I've also found a lot of games I like, such as: - Death: Unchained - Alyx - The Room VR - Obduction - Myst VR I've enjoyed both VR systems to the point that I haven't bothered to check the availability of Sony's or Microsoft's offerings recently. I'm enjoying what I have. I don't know why Sony and Microsoft never seem to be able to predict the market and create enough products to meet demand, but they always seem to struggle with this (I know there's a global chip shortage at the moment, but Sony especially has had this problem for years). Now that decent enough competitors exist, Sony and Microsoft might find their marketshare eroding due to their inability to satisfy market demands.
Reichhardt 5y ago
I think the era of high-res gaming is over. The games are too expensive to produce and the hardware is too costly (or impossible) to buy. What matters more is broad, international appeal, to multiple age ranges and both genders, on as many platforms as possible. In particular, having social experiences in order to replace what has been lost due to COVID lockdowns.
- TylerE 5y ago
  So the solution to that is requiring specialized hardware that shuts you off from the outside world?
  - vmception 5y ago
    not only did they not propose or suggest a specific solution - nor are obligated to with their observation - they also left the door open for “many platforms”, therefore allowing a vr headset to be just one platform
  - Reichhardt 5y ago
    The Quest hardware is off-the-shelf displays and SoCs from smartphones. Its selling so well because its not specialized.
- stubish 5y ago
  Maybe 4k or 8k gaming won't be sustainable due to production costs, but what I'd call 'high-res' is even more viable today than it was 5 years ago. Be careful of moving goal posts. Top-end hardware has always been and will remain silly money. I agree there is a broader market now, but think it is in addition to the existing 'gamer' market and you are not going to see Ubisoft, EA or Rockstar pivot away from the obscenely profitable markets they dominate.
- linspace 5y ago
  I see my children not giving a crap about graphics. Their favorite games being Roblox and Minecraft. And Fortnite lately because they play with school friends over discord. I think I'm from another age, of Doom and Quake, when changing computers every 4 years was mandatory. Maybe one day videogames will even be more than just a time sink, who knows.
numpad0 5y ago
I wonder if it’s an another anecdotal that shows Oculus’ struggle without core gamer support and under almost a declaration of war from Carmack, that they had to resort to comparison against Xbox. Surely they’ve got no support from me, and while I’m not an important person, I can’t be extremely unique either.
- folli 5y ago
  I'm out of the loop: Carmack declared a war against what? And why don't core gamers like Oculus?
  - hansel_der 5y ago
    i'm guessing "core gamers" stick with what works best, which is mouse, keyboard and monitors.
    - numpad0 5y ago
      Core gamers prefer constructed identities. Real names are secondary and for real worlds only. That's where Facebook et al and gamers disagree.
- b9a2cab5 5y ago
  I think this narrative is biased by your perspective as an enthusiast PC gamer (the PCMasterRace type of person). Oculus selling a console-like, works out of the box offering makes a lot of sense in pushing VR towards the mainstream. The existence of stuff like AirLink also points to strong demand from PC gamers as well. The only people complaining are the PCMR crowd who either dislike the focus on mainstream users (filthy casuals amirite?) or the fact that it's made by Facebook (somewhat valid, I suppose). The market success of Quest 2 in comparison to Oculus PC-only headsets and the Index+WMR ecosystem makes it pretty clear which is the more appealing option to most people.
  - VRay 5y ago
    yeah, I'm a huge PC Master Race type, and even I'd never recommend to someone to start with PC VR right now. It's a LOT better, but it's not so much better that it's worth paying 3x retail price for a high end GPU right now. If you can stomach forking over all that tracking data with Mark Zuckerberg's promise that he isn't going to use it to get better at hacking your lizard brain, the Quest 2 is an otherwise unambiguously great product. My Index is fantastic, but setting it up is usually a 10+ minute process (dig out and hook up the tracking cubes, get Steam and SteamVR patched and working again, clear a space next to my gaming PC). Meanwhile, last time I had a Quest, I could just put it on and use it in my back yard at night, or clear some space anywhere in the house and use it there. Practically no setup or BS involved.
Dig1t 5y ago
Yeah I agree, I've been trying for a year now to get an Xbox series X. Its incredible how hard they still are to buy.
reissbaker 5y ago
Yeah, the Xbox Series X sells out everywhere the minute supply becomes available — I've been casually trying to buy one for a while now. The Quest 2 certainly sold well, but the comparison is just a comparison of supply, not demand. Oculus sold more Quest 2s because it manufactured more Quest 2s (because the components were less in short supply this year). It's somewhat weird that the PS5 has had so many more units though.
authed 5y ago
> where an Oculus is readily available. not sure if that's true because I sold mine for more then what I paid for it...

dado3212 5y ago

This years sales have beaten the last 5 years of Xbox sales, so not sure how convincing supply chain issues are.

emodendroket 5y ago
The Xbox One was also a distant also-ran to the PS4.
puchatek 5y ago
I'm that case the title could also be made more accurate
Matthias247 5y ago
I tried buying a series X for 4 month with no luck. Everything which shows up online is sold out within seconds. So yes - the supply chain issues are very real.

wyldfire 5y ago

Maybe the demand for new gaming experiences is being satisfied by Oculus due to lower costs and better availability. Maybe it's not misleading at all if Meta starts to eat the share of dollars/hours. Only time will tell if people will continue to use them beyond their initial novelty.

innocentoldguy 5y ago
I agree with you and it will be interesting to see how this plays out. Personally, I purchased an Oculus Quest 2 and a Valve Index about nine months ago because I couldn't find a Playstation or Xbox system in stock. I wasn't expecting much from either system (especially the Quest 2, since it is basically a cell phone with goggles and a couple of hand controllers) but they've both grown on me. I love the Quest's portability and the Index's screen resolution and adjustability are excellent. Meta's customer support for warranty issues has also been excellent (much, much, MUCH nicer than Sony's). I've also found a lot of games I like, such as: - Death: Unchained - Alyx - The Room VR - Obduction - Myst VR I've enjoyed both VR systems to the point that I haven't bothered to check the availability of Sony's or Microsoft's offerings recently. I'm enjoying what I have. I don't know why Sony and Microsoft never seem to be able to predict the market and create enough products to meet demand, but they always seem to struggle with this (I know there's a global chip shortage at the moment, but Sony especially has had this problem for years). Now that decent enough competitors exist, Sony and Microsoft might find their marketshare eroding due to their inability to satisfy market demands.

Reichhardt 5y ago

I think the era of high-res gaming is over. The games are too expensive to produce and the hardware is too costly (or impossible) to buy. What matters more is broad, international appeal, to multiple age ranges and both genders, on as many platforms as possible. In particular, having social experiences in order to replace what has been lost due to COVID lockdowns.

TylerE 5y ago
So the solution to that is requiring specialized hardware that shuts you off from the outside world?
- vmception 5y ago
  not only did they not propose or suggest a specific solution - nor are obligated to with their observation - they also left the door open for “many platforms”, therefore allowing a vr headset to be just one platform
- Reichhardt 5y ago
  The Quest hardware is off-the-shelf displays and SoCs from smartphones. Its selling so well because its not specialized.
stubish 5y ago
Maybe 4k or 8k gaming won't be sustainable due to production costs, but what I'd call 'high-res' is even more viable today than it was 5 years ago. Be careful of moving goal posts. Top-end hardware has always been and will remain silly money. I agree there is a broader market now, but think it is in addition to the existing 'gamer' market and you are not going to see Ubisoft, EA or Rockstar pivot away from the obscenely profitable markets they dominate.
linspace 5y ago
I see my children not giving a crap about graphics. Their favorite games being Roblox and Minecraft. And Fortnite lately because they play with school friends over discord. I think I'm from another age, of Doom and Quake, when changing computers every 4 years was mandatory. Maybe one day videogames will even be more than just a time sink, who knows.

numpad0 5y ago

I wonder if it’s an another anecdotal that shows Oculus’ struggle without core gamer support and under almost a declaration of war from Carmack, that they had to resort to comparison against Xbox. Surely they’ve got no support from me, and while I’m not an important person, I can’t be extremely unique either.

folli 5y ago
I'm out of the loop: Carmack declared a war against what? And why don't core gamers like Oculus?
- hansel_der 5y ago
  i'm guessing "core gamers" stick with what works best, which is mouse, keyboard and monitors.
  - numpad0 5y ago
    Core gamers prefer constructed identities. Real names are secondary and for real worlds only. That's where Facebook et al and gamers disagree.
b9a2cab5 5y ago
I think this narrative is biased by your perspective as an enthusiast PC gamer (the PCMasterRace type of person). Oculus selling a console-like, works out of the box offering makes a lot of sense in pushing VR towards the mainstream. The existence of stuff like AirLink also points to strong demand from PC gamers as well. The only people complaining are the PCMR crowd who either dislike the focus on mainstream users (filthy casuals amirite?) or the fact that it's made by Facebook (somewhat valid, I suppose). The market success of Quest 2 in comparison to Oculus PC-only headsets and the Index+WMR ecosystem makes it pretty clear which is the more appealing option to most people.
- VRay 5y ago
  yeah, I'm a huge PC Master Race type, and even I'd never recommend to someone to start with PC VR right now. It's a LOT better, but it's not so much better that it's worth paying 3x retail price for a high end GPU right now. If you can stomach forking over all that tracking data with Mark Zuckerberg's promise that he isn't going to use it to get better at hacking your lizard brain, the Quest 2 is an otherwise unambiguously great product. My Index is fantastic, but setting it up is usually a 10+ minute process (dig out and hook up the tracking cubes, get Steam and SteamVR patched and working again, clear a space next to my gaming PC). Meanwhile, last time I had a Quest, I could just put it on and use it in my back yard at night, or clear some space anywhere in the house and use it there. Practically no setup or BS involved.

Dig1t 5y ago

Yeah I agree, I've been trying for a year now to get an Xbox series X. Its incredible how hard they still are to buy.

reissbaker 5y ago

Yeah, the Xbox Series X sells out everywhere the minute supply becomes available — I've been casually trying to buy one for a while now. The Quest 2 certainly sold well, but the comparison is just a comparison of supply, not demand. Oculus sold more Quest 2s because it manufactured more Quest 2s (because the components were less in short supply this year). It's somewhat weird that the PS5 has had so many more units though.

authed 5y ago

> where an Oculus is readily available. not sure if that's true because I sold mine for more then what I paid for it...