Quest Professional is now not that can be purchased from Meta, although inventory continues to be obtainable at some retailers.
Meta introduced the retirement of each Quest 2 and Quest Professional at its Join convention again in September, saying that the 2 headsets will now not be obtainable when inventory runs out or on the finish of the 12 months, whichever comes first.
For Quest 2, inventory ran out inside a couple of weeks of Join. For Quest Professional, it seems the opposite clause utilized. With the arrival of the brand new 12 months, the headset’s web page on Meta’s web site has been changed with a “Meta Quest Professional is now not obtainable” discover, alongside a picture and value of Quest 3, Meta’s new highest-end providing.
With Quest 2, Quest Professional, and the 128GB mannequin of Quest 3 gone, Meta’s headset lineup has been simplified to:
- Quest 3S (128GB): $300
- Quest 3S (256GB): $400
- Quest 3 (512GB): $500
Quest Professional: A Pioneering Failure
After Quest 2 turned the primary mainstream VR headset, Meta hoped it may construct on this success by introducing a high-end Quest to serve fans and companies.
Quest Professional launched in late 2022 at $1500. It featured Meta’s first pancake lenses, QD-LCD shows with Mini-LED native dimming, eye monitoring, face monitoring, a curved battery within the rear of the strap, and the ringless self-tracking Contact Professional controllers.
In some ways Quest Professional was a pioneering headset. However in others it was severely missing, given its value.
John Carmack Tried To Kill Quest Professional, Predicting Failure
Carmack says he predicted it will be “a industrial failure and distract the groups for a 12 months, stopping them from doing extra helpful work”.
By the point Quest Professional launched, leaks of a Quest 3 arriving a 12 months later with a twice as highly effective GPU at half the worth had already emerged, severely dampening the headset’s worth proposition.
Additional, Quest Professional’s underwhelming decision, grainy passthrough, lack of capacity to generate a scene mesh for blended actuality, and Meta’s cartoonish avatars not being detailed sufficient to do the face monitoring sensors justice led to mixed-at-best critiques.
Simply 4 months after Quest Professional launched Meta lower its value from $1500 to $1000. This sort of value lower so quickly after launch was unprecedented, and strongly suggests the headset vastly missed its launch gross sales targets.
Quest Professional Worth Lower To $1000 Simply 4 Months After Launch
Quest Professional’s value is being lower from $1500 to $1000 simply 4 months after launch. The value of the 256GB Quest 2 mannequin can also be being lowered, from $500 to $430.
By round a 12 months after launch Meta was giving freely Quest Professional headsets to Roblox creators, when giving them a Quest 2 would have been completely nice. And final 12 months Meta eliminated the whiteboard, which was designed round the pressure-sensitive stylus suggestions of Quest Professional’s controllers, from Horizon Workrooms.
A number of builders have advised UploadVR they see solely a tiny fraction of their consumer base on Quest Professional. As such, virtually no Quest recreation builders took the time so as to add help for its eye-tracked foveated rendering.
Meta Horizon OS Will Run On Headsets From ASUS & Lenovo
Meta is rebranding its Quest software program platform to Meta Horizon OS and opening it as much as third-party headset makers, together with ASUS and Lenovo.
With Quest Professional off the market, Meta now not sells any headsets with eye monitoring or face monitoring. It is potential one in every of its Horizon OS companions, resembling ASUS or Lenovo, will launch a headset with these options a while later this 12 months, and we’ll hold a detailed eye on these firms for any indicators of that taking place.
