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Well, they've sold 20 million Quest headsets [1]. This compares with ~38 million PS5s, and ~18.5 million Xbox Series X/S. That's multiple generations of headse
by jlmorton 3y ago
Well, they've sold 20 million Quest headsets [1]. This compares with ~38 million PS5s, and ~18.5 million Xbox Series X/S.
That's multiple generations of headsets, but given they iterate quicker than consoles, that still seems a somewhat fair comparison.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_game_consoles https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_game_cons...
- thiht 3y agoThat number seems astonishingly high. I’d be curious to see info on the demographics who buy these headsets (compared to PS5 for example).
- rootusrootus 3y agoPeople with kids, I'd guess. I bought a Quest 2 a couple years ago as a toy, as much for myself as for the kids, but they've dominated usage of it. Which is fine, because I didn't find anything that was a huge draw for me. But they fight over the damn thing every day, and use it almost as much as they use the Xbox.
- spaceman_2020 3y agoIt's strange because somehow, all the kids I know don't even know what the Quest is, but can rattle off all the upcoming titles for PS5 and XBox and Switch.
- chaostheory 3y agoThat’s because meta’s marketing campaigns are both terrible and targeted towards adults. Children are the largest demographic who just get it. They don’t need to be coaxed into trying the Quest 2 and its isolating form factor doesn’t intimidate children as it does most adults. They’re also the most consistently active user group. It reminds me of who the NES was most popular with
- Firmwarrior 3y agoMan, that's interesting.. maybe Graybeard Palmer Luckey will finally get the recognition he deserves once those kids are all powerful adults ~30 years from now
- sitkack 3y ago+1 this entire thread. Bought it for the kid and I to share, kid basically owns it. Games catalog isn't even as good as the Atari 2600.
- rootusrootus 3y agoI could see that. I don't think any of the neighbor kids knew anything about VR until they came over to visit and got to see our Quest. But they get hooked, and it's becoming a regular thing for them to ask to come over and play on the VR while our kids play on the Xbox instead. I guess it's a failure of marketing.
- osigurdson 3y agoA strange thing has happened, the Quest has become uncool among kids (my kids circles at least).
- spaceman_2020 3y agoDon't think the FB association is helping. Most things FB are uncool among kids these days, even Instagram.
- osigurdson 3y agoStrange as they probably barely know or care that FB is behind these products. I think they just gotta make it cooler. The Quest 2 is a bit like having a Wii strapped to your head. Not saying that it is easy to make it awesome but I do think awesome is what is needed.
- ezconnect 3y agoAre they allowed to play on it for as long as they like or did you set a time limit?
- slantaclaus 3y agoWhy must people continue to use the term "headsets"? You sound like you're 80 years old
- haste410 3y agoWhat else would you call it? The official announcement of it calls it a headset.
- andybak 3y agoSorry. What do you call them?
- nomel 3y agoI believe the young kids are calling them Virtual Visions Visors.
- andybak 3y agoNot sure if joking.
- slantaclaus 3y agoI thought he was talking about phones my bad
- wkat4242 3y agoWhat else? Goggles perhaps? That sounds more grandpa to me than headset.
- nomel 3y agoThese aren't HMDs, if that's what you're thinking. They're fully integrated systems.
- taskforcegemini 3y ago"vr-goggles" doesn't sound that great either. on the other hand, alphabet could have "google goggles"
- jjfoooo4 3y agoIt's more impressive than many people think, but in context: - The PS5 sales have been notoriously hampered by supply constraints - The XBox numbers are considered to be a major disappointment [1] - The Quest continues to be crushed by the Nintendo Switch, which counted selling 18m unites in a year to be a disappointing result of supply constraints [2] [1] https://kotaku.com/xbox-series-x-s-sales-microsoft-next-gen-exclusives-1850375665 https://kotaku.com/xbox-series-x-s-sales-microsoft-next-gen-... [2] https://www.cnbc.com/2023/05/09/nintendo-full-year-earnings-2023-switch-sales-plunge-22percent.html https://www.cnbc.com/2023/05/09/nintendo-full-year-earnings-...
- wkat4242 3y agoEveryone who wants a PS5 can buy one now though. The constraints are long over.
- oarsinsync 3y agoMeanwhile the PS4 shipped over 110m units.
- danpalmer 3y agoThat's a fair point, but I still feel like the sales pitch is lackluster. I only know 1 person with one of these (or who talks about it), despite being surrounded by high earning tech workers. On the other hand when I think back to the Apple Watch launch, despite early models not selling that well compared to other Apple devices I remember plenty of friends having them.
- chaostheory 3y agoMy guess as to why there aren’t more in-store demo units is because of the need for space and staff onsite for a smooth demo. Unlike Apple, meta only has one storefront. The issue of cleanliness also calls for the need for onsite staff The best they could do is subsidize the cost which they have done multiple times in the past. The lowest price for a Quest 2 that I’ve seen is $229
- nomel 3y ago> The issue of cleanliness also calls for the need for onsite staff I'm not sure why this is being downvoted. As anyone who actually tried to demo a quest 2/pro knows, this was absolutely true, and still is true [1]. During covid, there were no in-store demos that I could find for the Pro or Quest 2, in my city of millions. One large chain advertised demos, but it was by appointment, and not one within 100 miles actually went through with it. Now, with COVID restrictions gone, the locations are far between, and require assisted demos, because you can't really leave a VR headset tethered to a counter and not have something break. The only reliable way to try was to buy it and return it. See all of the subreddits for how widespread this behavior was. I think the real issue is that HL: Alyx is an extreme outlier in quality, in VR gaming, which isn't good.
- pantalaimon 3y agoThere aren’t just that many exciting games for the platform. There are a hand full of impressive titles, but they tend to be short and eventually get boring. There are just so much more constraints to get an immersive experience right.
- jlundberg 3y agoThe problem for Quest is not units sold, but retention.
- mathgeek 3y agoThe industry metric that’s most applicable is tie ratio (or attachment rate, which is related but specific to individual software titles).