Meta cuts the price of its Quest headset by up to 33% after disappointing demand

FACEBOOK parent Meta Platforms cut the price of some of its Quest virtual reality (VR) headsets, including its high-end mixed reality device, in part because demand has been weaker than anticipated, a person familiar with the matter said.

The Meta Quest Pro, the company’s headset unveiled last fall aimed at corporate users, will cost US$1,000 beginning March 5, down from US$1,500, the company said Friday (Mar 3). The 256-gigabyte Meta Quest 2, previously listed at US$500, will soon cost US$430.

The price is dropping so that “more people can get into VR”, chief executive Mark Zuckerberg posted on his Instagram channel. But the move is also in response to sluggish demand from both business customers and consumers, said the person familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified because they weren’t authorised to speak publicly about the company.

A Meta spokesperson declined to comment.

While one of the original plans for the Quest Pro was to sell to enterprise customers interested in using the device in work settings, that plan hasn’t gained traction, the person said. The lack of compatible third-party apps also hindered sales, the person said.

Meta has been exploring ways to package the Quest for more commercial clients and sell it in larger batches, the person said.

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Shares of the Menlo Park, California-based company, which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, were up 6.2 per cent at 3.30 pm in New York on Friday. The stock has risen more than 54 per cent this year, thanks in large part to Zuckerberg’s focus on cutting costs and becoming more efficient. BLOOMBERG