(Reuters) – Meta Platforms Inc slashed the prices of its virtual reality headsets in hopes of spurring demand for its VR hardware as its bold bets on the Metaverse struggled to make a big hit.
Its flagship Meta Quest Pro will retail for $999 compared to its introductory price of $1,499, and the 256GB Quest 2 version will retail for $429 instead of $499, Chief Executive Mark said Zuckerberg on Friday in a broadcast on his social media platform Instagram.
The company cited lower Quest 2 sales as the reason for a 17% decline in fourth-quarter revenue at its Reality Labs unit, which includes VR-related offerings.
The division lost $13.7 billion last year and over $10 billion in 2021.
Meta is being criticized by investors for putting money into Metaverse that hasn’t benefited as expected.
Late last year, the company launched Quest Pro, positioning it as its most advanced VR headset with capabilities to further advance use cases.
Quest Pro targeted designers, architects and other creative professionals with its outward-facing cameras that capture live 3D streams of the physical environment and enable innovations such as the ability to hang virtual paintings on a real wall.
Meta has recently sobered up its stance on the Metaverse and is focused on cost savings. The company called 2023 the “Year of Efficiency” and predicted billions of dollars in savings that year.
While VR headsets have added advanced features recently, their adoption outside of the gaming community has been slow.
Last month, Tencent, the world’s largest video game publisher, shelved its plans to enter VR hardware while it held talks to distribute the Meta Quest line of products in China.
(Reporting by Yuvraj Malik in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli)
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