Meta’s $300 Quest 3S Headset Significantly Lowers VR’s Buy-In Price

The Quest 3S, Meta’s latest blended actuality headset, will probably be out on this planet quickly. If you’re acquainted with the options presently provided by Meta’s VR headsets, then the one stunning factor in regards to the new {hardware} would be the worth. However it’s reverse sticker shock: The brand new Meta Quest 3S is a $300 headset that has practically all of the capabilities of the $500 Meta Quest 3. This rather more modestly priced entry into the metaverse is out there for preorder as we speak; Meta says will probably be out on October 15.

The Meta Quest 3S was introduced as we speak at Meta Join, the company’s massive annual developer fete the place it sometimes additionally declares new merchandise. Within the keynote deal with, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg laid out his imaginative and prescient for the company’s newest AR and VR units and the numerous, many updates to the AI options being constructed into its platforms.

The brand new Quest 3S.

Courtesy of Meta

The hand controllers.

Courtesy of Meta

Just like the Quest 3, the Quest 3S is powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon XR2 Gen 2 platform. It has full shade passthrough imaginative and prescient, so you possibly can pipe in a view of your speedy atmosphere (and navigate round your espresso desk) with out taking the goggles off. There’s even a brand new devoted button on the underside of the headset for this; press it everytime you wish to see your real-life environment. The headset is suitable with most Quest 3 equipment, however not all of them. The Quest 3S additionally options Meta’s Horizon OS, which permits for a desktop-like expertise the place you possibly can cycle by way of 2D apps and browser tabs after which seamlessly change to watching a film or enjoying a recreation. And sure, you possibly can play Wordle in it.

The bottom configuration of the Quest 3S comes with 128 GB of storage, and for an additional $100 you possibly can add as much as 256 GB (bringing the worth to $400). The one model of the older Quest 3 you can purchase is the 512 GB model, and the worth on that mannequin is dropping from $650 all the way down to $500. Meta will wind down manufacturing of its different headsets, too; the corporate says it’ll quickly cease promoting the Meta Quest 2 and Meta Quest Professional.

These cheaper costs, together with a diminished emphasis on the premium fashions, are supposed to entice a broader swath of the VR curious. Meta is prone to announce Quest headsets with beefier specs sooner or later, although for now that larger class of system faces an unsure destiny. Meta is clearly taking steerage from the underwhelming reception of Apple’s Vision Pro headset, and selecting to give attention to units which are cheaper and extra accessible.

Courtesy of Meta

Courtesy of Meta

The day earlier than the announcement, Meta provided a 40-minute demo of the Meta Quest 3S at its headquarters in Silicon Valley. I performed a demo of the VR recreation Batman: Arkham Shadow, which comes put in on the each the Quest 3 and Quest 3S in case you purchase one earlier than April 2025. (If you’ve ever wished to really feel what it’s prefer to crouch round in a sewer whereas dressed as Batman, it is a recreation for you.)

However in the end, the Meta blended actuality expertise felt like most different immersive headset experiences. Sprawling, formidable, blurry, and infrequently disorienting. The headset is gentle and simple to put on, however nonetheless makes you sweat in case you maintain it in your head too lengthy. The apps it affords are enjoyable, however might be skilled extra comfortably on extra conventional units. (I’ll play Wordle on my telephone, thanks.) Horizon Worlds, Meta’s digital assembly and hangout area, may very well be a neat place to stream a live performance, however all of the totally different realms nonetheless really feel disconnected and surprisingly thrown collectively, like in case you may shove your head straight right into a random subreddit.

Courtesy of Meta

Courtesy of Meta

That mentioned, the weirdness additionally makes for among the extra attention-grabbing moments. At one level throughout my Quest 3S demo, I navigated, to the chagrin of my Meta press handlers, to a user-created realm in Horizon Worlds known as MetDonalds. This turned out to be a VR rendering of a McDonalds restaurant that was completely operated by kids. Almost each particular person there was on mic, and each certainly one of them seemed like a baby. I attempted to order a digital Completely happy Meal, and was instantly known as out. They requested me how previous I used to be, and once I informed them my age there was an amazing refrain of laughter.

“You are 34?” Certainly one of them shouted, her tone a mixture of teasing and astonishment. “What are you even doing right here?”

Good query, child. Good query.

In the end, the Meta Quest 3S is right here to serve up the identical sorts of VR options that its VR headsets have provided for some time. The metaverse isn’t totally right here but, and Horizon Worlds nonetheless feels janky and disorienting. However hey, if these untamed experiences are your factor, then at the very least the Quest 3S will decrease the price of entry. The toddlers working the VR McDonalds in Horizon Worlds are having a blast, so possibly that is simply their world now.

Correction, September 25, 2024 at 12:36pm: Meta is decreasing the worth of the 512 GB headset to $500, not $450 as was beforehand acknowledged. Additionally clarified that Batman: Arkham Shadow will include each the Quest 3 and Quest 3S if bought by April 2025.