Metaverse Off To An Ominous Start After Falling VR Headset Sales
More than a year after Mark Zuckerberg changed his company’s name to Meta and committed to spending billions of dollars on building the metaverse, it appears that his virtual reality bet is not even remotely close to paying off.
VR headsets’ sales decline
NPD Group, the research firm, shared data, which showed that there was a 2% decline in the sales of VR headsets this year as of early December when compared to last year, bringing them down to $1.1 billion.
Crypto Comeback Pro is the #1 cryptocurrency trading robot for investors! This trading tool has a %88 winning rate on trades and is the recommended trading software for cryptocurrency traders. Try The Trading Software For FREE Today. (Advertisement)
This much revenue is generated via the advertising business of Facebook in a period of three days only. Since the ad business has also been facing a slump, Zuckerberg wanted to pull the company into the future.
Therefore, he turned his attention to virtual reality devices and related technologies. However, analyst firm CCS Insight also revealed some disappointing data.
It showed that worldwide shipment of augmented reality devices and VR headsets had seen a more than 12% year-over-year drop in 2022 to a value of 9.6 million.
When taken together, the numbers related to VR headset shipments and sales present a very difficult and gloomy picture for Meta, as the company’s stock price has already come down by two-thirds in 2022.
Overall Market
According to Zuckerberg, the metaverse is a long game and it will take about a decade to become mainstream, after which it will offer hundreds of billions of dollars.
Moreover, it is important to note that it is not just Meta that has made a big bet on the metaverse, as there are a number of other tech companies and venture companies that have done the same.
Many of them have made big bets on a futuristic world in the last decade, which involves education, virtual work, sports, and fitness.
Released in 2020, the Quest 2 headset of Meta is the top one in the VR market, while competing devices from Sony, HP, and Valve take up only a small portion of the market.
2022 saw the sales of the device drop after it had a good year in 2021. According to NPD, VR headset revenue increased twofold last year from 2020.
There were a number of factors that resulted in lower shipments and sales this year.
Crypto Comeback Pro is the #1 cryptocurrency trading robot for investors! This trading tool has a %88 winning rate on trades and is the recommended trading software for cryptocurrency traders. Try The Trading Software For FREE Today. (Advertisement)
Apple in focus
The latest report from CCS Insight indicates that the next year is also going to be a slow one for the VR market because of inflation and a weak economy.
Since consumers are expected to tighten their budgets, it is likely that non-essential purchases, which include VR headsets, will become a casualty.
The next-generation VR headset from Sony is expected to be introduced in February at a cost of $550. The only problem with it is that it requires people to have a PlayStation 5 for powering it.
The main question for 2023 is whether Apple, which has been rumored to working on one, will launch a VR headset.
The company could create a compelling VR headset that would have great technology.
Chip Timing Global is not responsible for the content, accuracy, quality, advertising, products or any other content posted on the site. Some of the content on this site is paid content that is not written by our authors and the views expressed do not reflect the views of this website. Any disputes you may have with brands or companies mentioned in our content will need to be taken care of directly with the specific brands and companies. The responsibility of our readers who may click links in our content and ultimately sign up for that product or service is their own. Cryptocurrencies, NFTs and Crypto Tokens are all a high-risk asset, investing in them can lead to losses. Readers should do their own research before taking any action.