Meta (META) can’t seem to keep people interested in their Quest VR headsets. That’s according to a report by The Verge, which gained access to an internal Meta presentation laying out the social media giant’s four year plan for its VR and AR headsets and glasses.
Speaking to Meta employees during the presentation the company’s VP of VR, Mark Rabkin, said that consumers who purchased the Quest 2 during the holidays aren’t using it as much as those who purchased their headsets earlier.
“Sadly, the newer cohorts that are coming in, the people who bought it this last Christmas, they’re just not as into it, as the ones who bought it early,” he said, according to The Verge.
Meta is making a huge bet on VR and AR as part of CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s vision for the metaverse. Depending on whom you ask, the metaverse is either a series of interconnected, persistently online worlds that you can dip into via a headset or an extension of the internet into our world accessible via AR. Or both.
Meta’s plans for the years ahead include the Quest 3, which will be released later this year, a second-generation version of the company’s existing Ray Ban smart glasses with built-in cameras. In 2025, the company will launch a third-generation of its smart glasses with the ability to display text messages and translate text from other languages. Those glasses will include a wrist-worn band that you will use to navigate various menus.
Finally, in 2027, the company will release a version of its smart glasses that can display AR holographic avatars of people onto the world around you. Zuckerberg showed off his vision for that technology during a presentation he gave while unveiling the company’s name change from Facebook to Meta in 2021.
So far, according to the report, Meta has sold some 20 million Oculus headsets to date. Meta released its first-generation Oculus in 2019 and the Oculus 2 in 2020.
According to market research firm NPD, the VR industry, like the broader games industry, faced a slowdown in 2022 with sales slipping 2% to $1.1 billion.
Meta has more to worry about than getting consumers more interested in its headsets though. The company is also facing what could be a major threat from Apple (AAPL), which is expected to launch its own VR/AR headset during its WWDC event this spring.
While the headset is expected to cost around $1,500 to $2,000, it could offer the kind of capabilities that manage to steal market share from Meta and position Apple as the company to beat in the space.
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Got a tip? Email Daniel Howley at dhowley@yahoofinance.com. Follow him on Twitter at @DanielHowley.
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