The Quest 2 256GB is being reduced from $500 to $430.
The Quest Pro is reduced from $1500 to $1000.
Oddly enough, the Quest 2 128GB is staying at $400.
The price drop starts on March 5 for the Quest 2. The Quest Pro drops on March 5 for the US, March 15 for the rest of the world.
One strange thing from that Meta blog post is that the list of countries getting the price drop is missing Ireland, Poland and New Zealand. Did Meta accidentally leave them out? Are they getting it later?
I was recommending people not to buy the pro for gaming as it wasn't really worth the money unless you're going to develop with it, or have a business case. But honestly now, I'd say, that $1,000 price is pretty good, even if it's just for games... if you have the spare cash.
There are a couple advantages over the rumoured tech in the Quest 3 that may be attractive to some... the dual QLED screens with 500 zone (I think) localised LED dimming, so no edges visible for the whole IPD range and great contrast. Face & eye tracking if you use it for business or social and the Pro controllers included.
Q3 will have a higher spec processor, depth sensor and probably higher resolution though, so you pick your preferences. I'm tempted to say hold off buying the Quest 2 now and wait for the 3, even with the price drop... that's if you can wait.
I haven't heard about Pro controller price drop but I assume that's coming too? if not this month then sometime soon.
Either way, this is very good news. For those of us who have the Pro, we need more AR software and increased sales won't hurt those prospects any! 🙂
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I do feel bad for the people who bought the Quest 2 256GB in the 8 month period between the price rise and price drop.
I wonder what the Quest 3 is going to do controller wise. Will they just reuse the Quest 2 controller? Will it have a new incompatible controller (like all the previous releases)? Will they move to the Pro controller as the standard?
I wish Meta opened up the Pro features a bit more to developers. AR still isn't up to mobile phone level due to blocking access to the cameras (and not providing an equivalent of Google's ARCore or Apple's ARKit) and face/eye tracking isn't available to PCVR.
I was betting on the Q2 controllers being included in the package but the lack of top cameras in the leaked design has me questioning that. I suppose there's a small cost saving to be had at the headset end, in completely doing away with headset-controller tracking, but the Pro controllers would have to have a significant price drop (more that the 30% drop they've announced for the Pro headset) for them to become the new standard.
They're also pushing hand control more, with the depth sensor and v50 features, which make me think Pro controller inclusion is maybe a little less likely.
I suppose they could have a headset-only and a headset/Pro controller package option. Then anyone with a Q2 just buys the headset if they don't want the new controllers. People seem to want that choice but I've always thought it's better to sell a used headset with controllers (or give them away in my case) than it is to use your controllers with a new headset. that's the reason I've never seen controller compatibility between headsets as a big deal... it's just bad when you break one and they no longer have them for sale as accessories, they definitely need to have them in stock for more than a couple years after bringing out a new headset.
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it's just bad when you break one and they no longer have them for sale as accessories, they definitely need to have them in stock for more than a couple years after bringing out a new headset.
Considering they apparently sold 20 million Quest 2s, that's a lot of potential controller replacements (due to stick drift or playing too much gorilla tag). They may want to stick to the Quest 2 controller for the Quest 3 just so there's a constant replacement supply.
No price drop in France for sure, Meta quest pro still at 1799euros (same price in USD).... what a joke, we have to wait at least to the 15 of march, I hope it will drop to 1000e, expecially that our price is always with tax.
My problem is you can still buy it at full price after the official announcement, and to find the date of the 15, you have to look for it. As it has already been announced, i would have expect a note next to the price so future customers are aware of it, if they want to buy old price because they can't wait no problem, but here mrs/mr everyone will get tricked.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen any shop, high street or on-line, display a notice to say there’s a price drop coming… until it comes. Meta have at least made the announcement including dates so that tech influencers, journalists and forums can spread the word.
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