Meta's Quest 2 headset is still absolutely dominating VR

It should come as no surprise that Meta’s Quest 2 VR headset is the most popular option for Steam VR users. The budget-friendly headset starts at $299 and now accounts for more than 46 percent of the Steam VR user base, according to Steam’s latest hardware survey.

In fact, the Quest 2’s share of the VR user base beat out the next three options combined. There’s a lot to criticize about Meta, the company formerly known as Facebook, but it clearly succeeded with the Quest 2 by pushing it as the perfect entry-level option for those looking to get into VR without any hassle.

Given Meta’s strong push into the metaverse, the Quest 2’s ongoing success will likely play heavily into the company’s plans and until someone makes a functional competitor at a budget price point, the Quest 2 will probably remain at the top of the charts.

Explosive growth — Even compared to last month’s survey, the Quest 2’s popularity rose 6.39 percent. Looking at last year’s numbers, the Quest 2 went from 17.4 percent of the Steam VR user base in January 2021 to the 46.02 percent that it currently sits at. The Quest 2’s percentage of the market is now so high that it even beat out the Valve Index (14.36 percent), the Oculus Rift S (13.1 percent), and HTC Vive headsets (7.31 percent) combined. The Steam hardware survey grouped 14.22 percent of its users into the “other” category, which includes the lesser-known alternatives like the Riftcat Vridge, the Pico Neo 3, and the Pimax 8K.

Steam’s survey also noted that the Oculus Rift S saw a 1.67 percent decline from last month, which makes sense since Meta discontinued the fan favorite. The second-largest drop in month-to-month numbers was with Valve Index, which saw a 1.43 percent drop.

No competition — It’s safe to say that the Quest 2 will continue dominating the VR headset market, even though it was released back in 2020. Even so, Valve is seemingly working on a standalone VR headset that could compete with the Quest 2. Whether or not the product will actually hit the market is hard to say since Valve hasn’t officially acknowledged it and probably has its hands full with the Steam Deck release. Sony also announced the successor to its relatively affordable PSVR, but has yet to reveal any pricing or release dates.

On the other hand, Meta said it’s working on future generations for its Quest lineup in a podcast interview from March. A few months later, Meta teased “Project Cambria,” which looks like a high-end standalone VR headset that is expected to be separate from the Quest devices.