Meta Quest headsets outsold PSVR2 by 30-1 over the holiday season
VR remains on the fringe of gaming, which it has done for the past several years. Headsets are freely available […] The post Meta Quest headsets outsold PSVR2 by 30-1 over the holiday season appeared first on ReadWrite.
VR remains on the fringe of gaming, which it has done for the past several years. Headsets are freely available and there are some games such as Elite Dangerous and just about any car racing game that benefit hugely from playing within a headset.
There are still people who get motion sickness and the barrier to entry of cost is a big one, especially with a major lack of any mainstream titles specifically developed with VR in mind.
When PlayStation doubled down with a second version of its PSVR for its console it was seen as a good thing – here was a major operating in the industry supporting the technology. But if a report from RoadtoVR means anything, the Sony-backed headset had a tough time getting any sales traction over the holiday period on Amazon at least.
Taking data from Amazon US and tracking sales volume of Meta’s Quest 2 and Quest 3 headsets, along with PSVR2 showed, astonishingly, that Quest headsets outsold PlayStation headsets by 30 to 1.
Data highlights that between November 16th and January 16th Meta sold at least 320,000 units compared to PlayStation’s 10,500.
Obviously, it is important to note that this is just one online storefront, albeit the biggest, and both brands may have sold considerably more than that.
Apple has found out this week that transferring a desirable product into sales is not always easy as it struggled with pre-orders of its new Apple Vision headset.
With headsets costing getting on for the same price as a high-end console, they are a considered purchase (in the case of Apple’s you could buy a decent second-hand car). VR continues to look for its killer app that will take owning a headset from a nice-to-have to a must-have.
Paul McNally
Gaming Editor
Paul McNally has been around consoles and computers since his parents bought him a Mattel Intellivision in 1980. He has been a prominent games journalist since the 1990s, spending over a decade as editor of popular print-based video games and computer magazines, including a market-leading PlayStation title published by IDG Media. Having spent time as Head of Communications at a professional sports club and working for high-profile charities such as the National Literacy Trust, he returned as Managing Editor in charge of large US-based technology websites in 2020. Paul has written high-end gaming content for GamePro, Official Australian PlayStation Magazine, PlayStation Pro, Amiga Action, Mega Action, ST Action, GQ, Loaded, and the The Mirror. He has also hosted panels at retro-gaming conventions and can regularly be found guesting on gaming podcasts and Twitch shows. He is obsessed with 3D printing and has worked with several major brands in the past to create content Believing that the reader deserves actually to enjoy what they are reading is a big part of Paul’s ethos when it comes to gaming journalism, elevating the sites he works on above the norm. Reach out on X.