Meta launches virtual reality subscription service
Meta, the company behind Facebook, recently introduced a Virtual Reality (VR) subscription service, offering paying users access to two new games each month.
Despite reporting a $4 billion loss in its VR unit for the first quarter of the year, the company remains competitive, especially with tech giants like Apple entering the fray with their much-anticipated mixed reality headset.
Meta’s subscription service, named Meta Quest+, is priced at $7.99 per month or $59.99 annually. It’s compatible with the Quest 2, Quest Pro, and the forthcoming Quest 3 headsets.
This move comes after Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced in 2021 the company’s ambitious plans to create a metaverse—a virtual world where people can interact, work, and play. Zuckerberg considers Artificial Intelligence (AI) as pivotal for unlocking the potential of the metaverse, announcing several ambitious AI projects last February.
Despite the losses in its Reality Labs division—the arm responsible for VR headsets—the company overall surpassed market expectations, posting a $5.7 billion profit for the first quarter of this year.
In contrast, Apple’s Vision Pro mixed reality headset, unveiled earlier this month, is priced at $3,499 and is expected to launch in the United States early next year.
This makes it significantly more expensive than Meta’s range of VR headsets, which are priced between $299.99 and $999.99. This competitive landscape suggests an accelerating race to dominate the emerging field of virtual and mixed realities.
