meta — still trying to make the metaverse happen — unveiled its next-generation VR and mixed-reality headset, the meta Quest 3, which will ship this fall for a price point starting at $500.
meta chief Mark Zuckerberg announced the Quest 3 in posts on Facebook and Instagram Thursday. The headset is “the first mainstream headset with high-res color mixed reality” capabilities, according to Zuckerberg. It’s 40% thinner than the Quest 2 and “more comfortable” than its predecessor, he added.
meta’s announcement comes ahead of Apple’s 2023 Worldwide Developers Conference next week, where Apple is expected to introduce its own mixed-reality headset.
Quest 3 will be compatible with Quest 2’s entire library of more than 500 VR games, apps and experiences. The company said it will reveal more details at the meta Connect conference on Sept. 27.
“Quest 3 is the supercharged, all-in-one headset you’ve been waiting for — no wires required,” meta said in a blog post. It’s the first headset to feature a next-gen Snapdragon chipset developed in collaboration with Qualcomm Technologies. meta claims the chipset delivers more than twice the graphics performance as the previous generation Snapdragon graphics processing unit (GPU) in Quest 2, resulting in smoother performance and “incredibly crisp details in immersive games.”
Also Thursday, meta hosted a Quest Gaming Showcase, showing off more than two dozen titles including Asgard’s Wrath 2, which it called “the biggest and most immersive game to ever come from Oculus Studios.” Others included a made-for-VR version of rhythm game Samba de Amigo; an update on Tender Claws’s Stranger Things VR; reveals of Bulletstorm and The 7th Guest; a new Vampire: The Masquerade game; and confirmation that Assassin’s Creed Nexus VR will be featured at Ubisoft’s event later this month.
The Quest 3’s mixed-reality experiences will “go beyond today’s mixed reality by intelligently understanding and responding to objects in your physical space and allowing you to navigate that space in natural, intuitive ways that were nearly impossible before,” meta claims. For example, the headset will let you play the Demeo turn-based fantasy tabletop game “on your kitchen table” and “decorate your living room” with virtual art in the Painting VR app, the company says.
Meanwhile, the company is reducing the price of the meta Quest 2 headsets. Starting June 4, the Quest 2 with 128 gigabytes of memory is dropping to $299.99 (from $399.99 currently) and the 256-GB model will be $349.99 (from $429.99 currently).
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In addition, in an upcoming software update, the Quest 2 and Pro will see an increase in CPU performance of up to 26% (and an up-to 19% GPU speed increase for Quest 2 and 11% for Quest Pro).
So far, meta’s Reality Labs business — comprising Quest and related products and technologies — has produced billions in losses for the company since its corporate name change two years ago. In the first quarter of 2023, the Reality Labs segment generated $339 million in revenue (down 51% year over year) and an operating loss of $3.99 billion (an increase of 35%).
Watch meta’s launch video for the Quest 3:
