The Metaverse is dead, long live the Metaverse. Earlier this week, Mark Zuckerberg announced Meta Quest 3 on his Instagram. Along with his announcement, Meta came up with a whole article with more details on the new headset, the price, and what it means for the future of Meta Quest 2. So, let’s dig in and explore.
Zuck broke the news just days before Apple’s early announcement of the headphones. Apple’s big foray into virtual reality is theorized to cost as much as $3,000. Yes, there are three zeros in that number. There really is no comparison, honestly. But, that’s one way to steal the spotlight from Apple.
The Meta Quest 3 will start at a slightly more affordable $499, which means higher storage versions can end up costing around $100 more. While it’s also expensive, there’s good news for Meta Quest 2.
The older model will have a price drop on June 4, to $299 for the 128GB model. They make it sound like they are doing you a favor for such a ridiculous price drop. But that’s the original price of the same headset before they raised it by $100 last year. For those looking to get into VR without giving up a kidney in the process, Meta Quest 2 has been a mainstay since its 2020 debut.
They also stated that they will continue to support Meta Quest 2 and that a firmware update is coming for Quest 2 and Quest Pro that would make it a bit faster and run better.
So what does Meta Quest 3 offer us?
For those looking to see if the new, more powerful headphones are worth buying, you’re in luck. According to Meta’s article on its website, Meta Quest 3 will feature “higher resolution, higher performance, revolutionary Meta Reality technology, and a thinner, more comfortable headset.”
The Quest 3 will offer a next-generation Snapdragon chipset from Qualcomm. This headset will be the first on the market for this specific chipset and offers more than twice the power of the Quest 2’s GPU.
It will also offer a fairly seamless experience between virtual reality and real reality, taking a more “augmented reality” approach to the user environment. They use a couple of examples, like playing the virtual board game Demeus on your kitchen table or decorating your real living room with virtual art.
One thing that VR companies constantly have to do is make headsets more comfortable to wear. Gone are the days of the Virtual Boy or the big clunky headphones that overwhelmed you. Meta has learned from previous iterations for a “40% thinner optical profile”. She also redesigned the Touch Plus controllers for a more comfortable and ergonomic feel.
Hand tracking is also supported out of the box with a feature called Direct Touch. Or you can grab the Meta Quest Touch Pro controllers, if you want a full, high-end experience.
Meta also assured fans that Quest 3 will launch with full compatibility with the entire Quest 2 catalog. That’s over 500 VR games and apps, currently. The number is likely to be even higher at launch.
Speaking of release, we don’t know the release date yet. But we will know more during the Meta Connect event on September 27.
Right after the Meta Quest 3 announcement, they launched the Meta Quest Gaming Showcase. The hour-plus long video spends about 10 minutes of previews leading up to the event. Then you have another 40 minutes with the host, Ruth Bram, showing off new game announcements. And finally, she closes the event for the last 20 minutes by doing interviews with various developers of some of the games featured in the video.
Right off the bat, the first trailer shown in the video is no more rainbows, a game that’s out now, a game bent on subverting your thoughts about good and evil and it looks incredibly fun. It’s available on all current Meta Quest headsets and will be compatible with Quest 3. We may have to pick this one up now.
Once the show started we were shown a couple of classic and nostalgic titles. Friend’s Samba is getting the virtual reality treatment. Based on the name not being numbered, it seems to be a bit of a series reboot, not that it matters to any lore or anything. Honestly, this series has always been highly regarded as a maracas rhythm game. It will be a great virtual reality title. This one is available for pre-order now for fall 2023.
He 7th VR Guest is another classic title coming to the Meta Quest arsenal. As a reimagining of the classic 1993 puzzle game set in a spooky mansion, The 7th VR Guest it uses full motion capture for the game’s actors and looks like a solid remake of the game from the CD-ROM era. You can wishlist it now in the Meta Quest store.
Ghostbusters: The Rise of the Ghost Lord puts players in the shoes of a Ghostbuster facing off against a mad scientist looking to wreak havoc. You work at the San Francisco headquarters for the Ghostbusters and can team up with friends or work alone. Bustin’ in VR makes me feel good. It is ready for the wish list in the Meta Quest store.
There was an absolute ton of games that they showed off during the event. Some other favorites of ours were arizona sun 2, CHARACTERSand VR Bullet Storm. They also announced that Assassin’s Creed Nexus VR coming this year. But we have to wait until the Ubisoft Forward event on June 12 to find out more.
Finally, Meta showed off what they consider to be one of their flagship AAA titles for Quest, wrath of asgard 2. Taking place after the first game, it pits you, once again, against Loki. This time, you find yourself in Ancient Egypt, among other settings. Although you face monsters and gods, the game seems very assassin’s Creed either dishonor at first sight. You can reserve it now. If you do, they give you the first. Asgard’s wrath on PC VR for free. You also get a “Meta Quest home environment” and an “exclusive wrath of asgard 2 character pack to use in POPULATION: ONE”.
If you like virtual reality and technology, you probably also know about last week’s Computex 2023 event in Taipei. They showed off a ton of new hardware for computers, games, and more.
