Almost two years after its launch, Quest 3 has lastly claimed the highest spot because the most-used VR headset on Steam. Although the metric is measured by Steam’s stats, the significance of the milestone has little to do with PC VR.
The Information
Quest 2’s four-and-a-half 12 months streak because the most-used VR headset on Steam has lastly come to an finish, dethroned by Meta’s personal Quest 3. Fittingly, Quest 3’s ascendance comes virtually precisely two years after the headset was first launched on October tenth, 2023.
That’s in keeping with the newest Steam {Hardware} & Software program Survey, which experiences some baseline statistics about what sort of {hardware} and software program is utilized by the platform’s inhabitants, and to see how issues are altering over time, together with using VR headsets.
The newest information reveals that Quest 2 has fallen to 26.17%, whereas Quest 3 simply barely forward for the primary time with 26.68% of the share of monthly-connected VR headsets on the platform.
The subsequent closest headset is Valve’s personal Index, coming in at a distant third with 13.47% share.
Whereas it took Quest 3 two years to steal the throne, Quest 2 had a extra meteoric rise. It took just some months after launch for Quest 2 to overhaul the then-reigning champion, Rift S. And it held onto the #1 spot for a staggering four-and-a-half years… till now.
Launched again in October 2020, Quest wasn’t only a extra reasonably priced and refined model of Meta’s promising new line of standalone ‘Quest’ headsets. It was additionally launched proper within the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic and the lockdowns that ensued; a time when folks had been on the lookout for methods to attach and escape with out leaving their houses.
Whereas Quest 2 was launched as the corporate’s most reasonably priced standalone headset so far, Quest 3 launched with the next worth and with out the increase of a worldwide pandemic. It might have taken two years for it to take the crown because the most-used VR headset on Steam, however that doesn’t make the second any much less vital.
My Take
Quest 3’s rise to the most-used headset on Steam truly has little to do with PC VR. Extra importantly, I see it as probably the most concrete signal we have now that the transition between Quest 2 and Quest 3 is lastly tipping towards the latter.
This has vital implications for builders and Meta’s VR ecosystem.
At launch, Quest 3 was closely marketed round its “blended actuality” (AKA passthrough AR) capabilities. Certainly it had considerably increased decision passthrough cameras with colour—an enormous enchancment over the grainy, black & white passthrough capabilities of Quest 2.
However with such an enormous inhabitants of Quest 2 headsets, builders had little incentive to construct blended actuality content material that solely labored properly on Quest 3. And so most builders stayed targeted on constructing pure VR content material that may run simply as properly on both headset.
Even among the many pure VR content material, many builders weren’t initially targeted on tapping Quest 3’s further energy and determination; understandably, it was tough to commit the sources to optimizing for a headset that was simply getting a foothold among the many Quest inhabitants.
That led to a string of main releases that launched both with out consideration for Quest 3 in any respect, or at finest, an eventual post-launch patch with enhancements for Quest 3. Even Meta’s personal main first-party launch, Asgard’s Wrath 2 (2023), wasn’t properly optimized for Quest 3 at launch; it took 5 months earlier than the sport was lastly up to date to faucet the headset’s larger energy and visible high quality.
Right now, I feel we are able to say the tide has lastly shifted. Quest 3 will not be solely probably the most used headset on Steam; its sibling, Quest 3S, has practically the identical capabilities, and itself holds a 7.87% share of VR headsets used on Steam. Mixed, the 2 headsets make up 34.55% of the headsets used on Steam.
The shift between generations is undeniably right here.
That’s to not say that Quest 2 is out for the depend. It’s nonetheless the second-most used headset on Steam and certainly makes up an enormous portion of lively Quest customers total. However whereas Quest 2 had clearly been the first focus for many builders, the time has come for Quest 3 and 3S change into the larger precedence.
The shift was a very long time coming, particularly for Meta. The corporate had been banking on blended actuality as a killer function for its new headsets; even when it was (and I’d argue the corporate nonetheless hasn’t confirmed that out), Meta’s personal success with the proliferation and longevity of Quest 2 prevented blended actuality from taking middle stage. As I wrote again in 2023, a late surge in Quest 2 gross sales, the next worth level for Quest 3, and a scarcity of a ‘killer app’ for blended actuality slowed the transition to the subsequent era seemingly greater than Meta would have preferred. Therefore it taking a complete two years for Quest 3 to lastly eclipse Quest 2 as Steam’s #1 headset.
Now as Quest 3 and 3S are able to take the highlight amongst builders, customers might begin to see extra of the blended actuality imaginative and prescient that Meta had promised on the launch of Quest 3.
The submit Quest 3 Passes a Vital Milestone because the Most-used VR Headset on Steam appeared first on Highway to VR.