5 ms·

Meta Quest is definitely not flopping. It's now believed Quest headsets have outsold the Nintendo GameCube. Quest 2 outsold the latest Xbox. I really question t

Meta Quest is definitely not flopping. It's now believed Quest headsets have outsold the Nintendo GameCube. Quest 2 outsold the latest Xbox. I really question the narrative that VR is this niche thing no one uses. The numbers support that it is going mainstream.

antifa 4y ago
How many people bought a GameCube, played for a week, then never touched it again? A better comparison would be first year game sales, 2nd year game sales, etc..
HDThoreaun 4y ago
The quest has seen decent sales, but from what I hear, it's got limited sticking power with users. Most headsets end up in the drawer gathering dust after the novelty wears off. Meta needs to see buyers continue using to consider the quest a success.
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
lucasgonze 4y ago
Gross sales of Meta Quest are inflated. "Grossly" inflated. HAHAHahaha. The Question is not volume but ROI. Meta is pouring massive amounts of money into the project and has yet to establish organic demand. The headsets that have been sold are gathering dust. There is no product/market fit.
macspoofing 4y ago
>I really question the narrative that VR is this niche thing no one uses. For gaming or non-gaming? In my circle of acquaintances, I know 2 people that use it for gaming (one individual is an avid "Elite Dangerous" player, which is a perfect use-case for VR). I don't know anyone that uses VR (or AR) for non-gaming purposes. This is what Facebook/Meta was trying to push. The problem for VR, specifically, is that there is a sizable population of people that experience nausea when using it even for relatively small amounts of time. I'm in that group. So even if I wanted to, I would not use, for example, VR productivity or collaboration apps, just because of the nausea. It's still a niche product.
- giobox 4y ago
  I also feel the VR enthusiast community rarely has an honest conversation about the size and scale of the nausea problem. I'm not sure its just a case of throw ever increasing fidelity at the picture and audio etc - I think its the fundamental issue of walking motion being perceived by eyes, but inner ear balance indicate you are stationary. Even at 600fps and 20k of resolution per eye this disconnect between visually perceived motion and actual motion is still going to exist. AR obviously doesn't have these issues and I think will one day be great, but VR could have this problem for decades.
  - tolstoshev 4y ago
    There's two technologies that help a lot, both strange: https://www.purdue.edu/newsroom/releases/2015/Q1/virtual-nose-may-reduce-simulator-sickness-in-video-games.html https://www.purdue.edu/newsroom/releases/2015/Q1/virtual-nos... https://www.vmocion.com/technology.html https://www.vmocion.com/technology.html
    - giobox 4y ago
      Thanks for the links. If something like that 2nd link actually works and can stimulate the inner ear to remove the problem entirely, that would be an incredible solution and easy to build into a headset band.
    - el_don_almighty 4y ago
      seasickness... I want this research applied to seasick sailors. Imagine if you could simply put on a headset and it provided cues to your inner ear and brain that helped more quickly adapt life at sea This would be awesome
  - orange_fritter 4y ago
    I haven't used VR much but a few friends discuss the unsettling post-VR experience of depersonalization/unreality after you take the headset off. One guy isn't too "sensitive" to anything in general so it was surprising to hear him say he just can't enjoy VR because he knows he will feel weird after.
belugacat 4y ago
Steering wheel controllers have outsold the GameCube. The fact that there’s a dedicated niche of users for a product has no correlation to broader market interest. Not to mention that consumer electronics sales in 2002 vs 2023 are just nowhere near in the same ballpark. A phone maker sells more phones in a year today than a top selling line of mp3 players might have sold over its entire lifetime in the 2000s.

antifa 4y ago

How many people bought a GameCube, played for a week, then never touched it again? A better comparison would be first year game sales, 2nd year game sales, etc..

HDThoreaun 4y ago

The quest has seen decent sales, but from what I hear, it's got limited sticking power with users. Most headsets end up in the drawer gathering dust after the novelty wears off. Meta needs to see buyers continue using to consider the quest a success.

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

lucasgonze 4y ago

Gross sales of Meta Quest are inflated. "Grossly" inflated. HAHAHahaha. The Question is not volume but ROI. Meta is pouring massive amounts of money into the project and has yet to establish organic demand. The headsets that have been sold are gathering dust. There is no product/market fit.

macspoofing 4y ago

>I really question the narrative that VR is this niche thing no one uses. For gaming or non-gaming? In my circle of acquaintances, I know 2 people that use it for gaming (one individual is an avid "Elite Dangerous" player, which is a perfect use-case for VR). I don't know anyone that uses VR (or AR) for non-gaming purposes. This is what Facebook/Meta was trying to push. The problem for VR, specifically, is that there is a sizable population of people that experience nausea when using it even for relatively small amounts of time. I'm in that group. So even if I wanted to, I would not use, for example, VR productivity or collaboration apps, just because of the nausea. It's still a niche product.

giobox 4y ago
I also feel the VR enthusiast community rarely has an honest conversation about the size and scale of the nausea problem. I'm not sure its just a case of throw ever increasing fidelity at the picture and audio etc - I think its the fundamental issue of walking motion being perceived by eyes, but inner ear balance indicate you are stationary. Even at 600fps and 20k of resolution per eye this disconnect between visually perceived motion and actual motion is still going to exist. AR obviously doesn't have these issues and I think will one day be great, but VR could have this problem for decades.
- tolstoshev 4y ago
  There's two technologies that help a lot, both strange: https://www.purdue.edu/newsroom/releases/2015/Q1/virtual-nose-may-reduce-simulator-sickness-in-video-games.html https://www.purdue.edu/newsroom/releases/2015/Q1/virtual-nos... https://www.vmocion.com/technology.html https://www.vmocion.com/technology.html
  - giobox 4y ago
    Thanks for the links. If something like that 2nd link actually works and can stimulate the inner ear to remove the problem entirely, that would be an incredible solution and easy to build into a headset band.
  - el_don_almighty 4y ago
    seasickness... I want this research applied to seasick sailors. Imagine if you could simply put on a headset and it provided cues to your inner ear and brain that helped more quickly adapt life at sea This would be awesome
- orange_fritter 4y ago
  I haven't used VR much but a few friends discuss the unsettling post-VR experience of depersonalization/unreality after you take the headset off. One guy isn't too "sensitive" to anything in general so it was surprising to hear him say he just can't enjoy VR because he knows he will feel weird after.

belugacat 4y ago

Steering wheel controllers have outsold the GameCube. The fact that there’s a dedicated niche of users for a product has no correlation to broader market interest. Not to mention that consumer electronics sales in 2002 vs 2023 are just nowhere near in the same ballpark. A phone maker sells more phones in a year today than a top selling line of mp3 players might have sold over its entire lifetime in the 2000s.