Meta, the owner of Facebook, has launched a virtual reality (VR) subscription service in an effort to make its VR division profitable. The subscription service, called Meta Quest+, offers paying users access to two new games each month. The move comes after Meta’s VR unit reported a loss of $4 billion in the first quarter of the year.
Meta faces competition in the VR space from companies like Apple, which recently unveiled its highly anticipated mixed-reality headset. Meta’s Quest+ service is compatible with its Quest 2, Quest Pro, and upcoming Quest 3 headsets. It is priced at $7.99 per month or $59.99 for an annual subscription.
In 2021, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced plans to build a “metaverse,” an online world where users can engage in various activities such as gaming, working, and communication within a virtual environment, often using VR headsets. Zuckerberg expressed his desire for Meta to be seen as a metaverse company and emphasized the importance of artificial intelligence (AI) in unlocking the potential of the metaverse. “Over time, I hope that we are seen as a metaverse company and I want to anchor our work and our identity on what we’re building towards,” said Zuckerberg at the time.
While Meta reported a profit of $5.7 billion for the first quarter of the year, its Reality Labs division, responsible for VR headsets and products, incurred a net loss of $4 billion during the same period. Apple’s recent entry into the VR space with its Vision Pro mixed-reality headset, set to be released in early 2024, poses further competition for Meta. Apple’s headset comes with a higher price tag of $3,499, significantly more expensive than Meta’s range of VR headsets priced between $299.99 and $999.99.
