this post was submitted on 16 Sep 2023
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Facebook's VR Headset Not Selling, Literally Giving It Away::Last fall, Meta-formerly-Facebook unveiled its Meta Quest Pro, a long-rumored, higher-end follow-up to the company's best-selling Quest 2 VR headset. The sleek device, which initially went on sale for an eye-watering $1,500, has really struggled to catch on since then, just as we predicted at the time. And, as Mixed Reality News reports, Meta is […]

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[–] LazaroFilm@lemmy.world 92 points 1 year ago (1 children)

If I’m putting something over my head it won’t be from the greediest tech company ever.

[–] phx@lemmy.world 18 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Meh. If they've still got some free ones to give out I'll take it.

But in all seriousness, the Quest 2 is pretty good hardware, especially for the price. The problem is that Meta tried to build an ecosystem around monetization and then bring people in, rather than building something that appeals to most people and still allows them to profit. Kinda the opposite of the Facebook model really, which became a defacto online community and kinda kept the monetization a little quieter or behind the scenes for a long time

[–] Buddahriffic@lemmy.world 15 points 1 year ago (1 children)

They could release the best possible VR hardware that puts your body into a dream state and allows you to experience things fully in VR for $99 and I still wouldn't touch it if meta, fb, or zuckberg has anything to do with it.

[–] Not_Alec_Baldwin@lemmy.world 8 points 1 year ago (4 children)

Iirc these headsets require your Facebook login to function at all?

Nope nope nope.

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[–] luciferofastora@lemmy.zip 10 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I wonder: Did the people who successfully pulled off the Facebook strategy get replaced by dumber, greedier ones, did they get overruled by dumber, greedier decision-makers, did they get overconfident and thought their current market position would let Meta get away with it, or did they get lucky in the first place and fail to take any notes on why it worked?

Corporations tend to run on "if it works, why change?" so mixing up your entire strategy to this degree seems like it must've been a deliberate decision. I'm just curious who made that decision, and by what reasoning.

[–] LazaroFilm@lemmy.world 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Now they have to show rising numbers to shareholders quarterly. They can’t play the long game anymore. They need results every quarter, even if it sinks the company on the long run.

[–] luciferofastora@lemmy.zip 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Capitalism was a mistake. The only innovation it breeds is how to exploit things for money.

[–] LazaroFilm@lemmy.world 6 points 1 year ago (2 children)

It works when the company is growing. But when it has reached 100% of their potential users, the only growth is greed and that’s where it fails.

[–] Not_Alec_Baldwin@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago

See: instant pot

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[–] dual_sport_dork@lemmy.world 69 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Well, possibly people have finally been turned off by Zuck Zuck and his creepy-ass avatar doing their combined best to make his "Metaverse" pipe dream as cringeworthy as possible. Seems he can't get it through his head that all we really want to do is play video games (and I guess maybe watch VR porn), and for $1500/999, we can buy an awful lot of game console with change left over for some games, or a pretty significant chunk of normal gaming PC.

I think I'll stick with my Reverb G2. I wouldn't take a Meta/Facebook backed device, nor touch its ecosystem, if they paid me.

[–] fartsparkles@sh.itjust.works 23 points 1 year ago

$1500 also buys a lot of porn (or so I’ve heard) especially as free is a pretty low price.

[–] MrMcGasion@lemmy.world 15 points 1 year ago (7 children)

I've spent over $1500 on VR (HTC Vive, and Valve Index, plus some accessories for both). I've never been able to talk myself into even a Quest 2 for $200 back when they went on sale shortly before they raised the price due to "supply chain issues." I enjoy VR experiences and I'm personally okay with paying enthusiast prices for hardware that improves the experience, but I want nothing to do with Meta/Facebook's ecosystem, at any price.

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[–] Sanctus@lemmy.world 66 points 1 year ago (3 children)

We're broke as fuck, we can not afford that shit. Money is better spent elsewhere than a VR "workstation".

[–] BowtiesAreCool@lemmy.world 16 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Also their cheaper option is great for 1/3 or less of the price

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[–] LazaroFilm@lemmy.world 12 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I’d use VR for work if I could afford it. But not from the take all you personal dada and sell it company.

[–] AnAngryAlpaca@feddit.de 4 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I would use it for work, except our tech stack is still stuck in the 1990s...

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[–] Secret300@sh.itjust.works 11 points 1 year ago (1 children)

For real. Even if I did have enough money to go buy something that's that much I'd rather get literally anything else

[–] Sanctus@lemmy.world 10 points 1 year ago (1 children)

For that price I can buy a used ThinkPad AND set it up for work in a literal strip club. Thats the price tag.

[–] surewhynotlem@lemmy.world 13 points 1 year ago

I am intrigued by your message and would like to subscribe to your newsletter.

[–] stigmata@lemmy.world 34 points 1 year ago (2 children)

This is the dumbest take on what's happening. The Quest 3 is better than the Pro and it comes out next month. We don't need the Pro anymore. Some of y'all need to use some critical thinking. Roblox also just recently got a lot of attention towards it from Meta; it's not a coincidence these were Roblox devs that the Pros were given to.

[–] Astroturfed@lemmy.world 12 points 1 year ago

Shut up and hate the zuck with the crowd. How dare you question the groupthink hate train.

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[–] paddirn@lemmy.world 34 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I wouldn't take anything from Facebook, no matter if it was free or if I was paid to take it. They're toxic as a service and as a company, I want nothing to do with them.

[–] Dkarma@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago

No shit. The platform is basically just a string of rug pulls over your lifetime.

[–] iHUNTcriminals@lemm.ee 29 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (6 children)

No one is going to buy a pro VR set from meta, lol. That's like going to an Apple Bees with $1000 instead of a Michelin Star restaurant.

And what are people going to do with it...? Play the same Beat Saber they always have?

[–] XEAL@lemm.ee 19 points 1 year ago (2 children)
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[–] MataVatnik@lemmy.world 25 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

The goal has never been to sell VR head sets, the goal is to have 1Billion people on VR. The money would come from the monopoly they would have over selling software through their app store. Same way Google and Apple have a monopoly on who sells through their app stores. This has been zucks stated goal from the start

[–] limeaide@lemmy.ml 4 points 1 year ago

In my opinion, I think their goal was to control the platform. If you think about it, the amount of information that they can gather from users is wholly controlled by Google and Apple through their OS'.

Apple and Google have continuously decreased the amount of information Meta can gather through their apps, and I think with VR they made a huge bet that would be the next platform so they jumped on the ship to make sure that this time they would be controlling the platform and not another company.

I don't think they want to make money through software, I think they want to make money through data collection. The amount of data they can gather from you just through the setup, is incredible. They can literally know your height and have cameras on at all times.

I think VR can be successful, but I don't think Meta will do it. I don't think they're be the ones getting the ball rolling at least. If anything their marketing and the bad name they gave to VR set things back. I think they're too early and have a pretty bad brand image for people to trust them. I don't think the hardware or the software support is there for things to fully take off either

Also, wouldn't their goal be to sell VR headsets? How would people buy their software without a headset? I think their goal was to sell headsets. Pretty sure they sold their budget headsets at a loss just to introduce people to the platform.

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[–] RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world 24 points 1 year ago

Looking for the place so I can have my free, “literally” given away VR headset.

[–] Fiivemacs@lemmy.ca 21 points 1 year ago (2 children)

No shit...the day my occulus rift got bought and whored out by Facebook was the day I stopped using it.

[–] dual_sport_dork@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Mine too. My OG Rift is still sitting in a box in my basement. I don't even feel right selling it on, since I'd just be saddling the next user with the same bullshit.

It's fine anyway, since for the purposes I use it for my Reverb is much better.

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[–] exohuman@programming.dev 21 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

The Quest 2 sells fine. The Quest Pro is for an audience that doesn’t exist at $1500. Also, Apple’s VR headset might as well not exist due to how expensive it is.

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[–] dbilitated@aussie.zone 19 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I find it so perplexing they released a "premium" version with barely improved resolution.

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[–] iesou@lemm.ee 15 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Ok I agree with all that sentiment, but in the article I only saw a $500 price drop, were they ever free or are you taking the world literally figuratively?

[–] moormaan@lemmy.ca 12 points 1 year ago

It is referring to that Roblox developer conference. But yeah, somewhat click baity as people might be hoping to get one for cheap.

[–] WindowsEnjoyer@sh.itjust.works 14 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Valve Index is much better device.

Also Zucc can go fuck hinself. Maybe he will find a privacy, because he stores it in his asshole.

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[–] FartsWithAnAccent@lemmy.world 10 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Yeah, not even if you literally paid me. Fuck Meta/Facebook/Instagram/Snapchat/Oculus/etc..

[–] mrcleanup@lemmy.world 6 points 1 year ago

It's too bad because the hardware and software so far have been on point. The moment Facebook bought Oculus, I knew it was over, at least for me.

[–] specfreq@lemmy.world 9 points 1 year ago

You could not pay me... I'm not even mad at Facebook, fuck you so much Palmer Lucky!!!

[–] Tygr@lemmy.world 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Nobody wants to buy this generation’s Nintendo Virtual Boy.

[–] Carnelian@lemmy.world 22 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I want one! Just not from Zuck

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[–] joel@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 points 1 year ago

No it's "literally" been reduced to $1000.

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