The Black Friday 2023 sales was the single biggest period for new sales of virtual reality hardware ever. Following a slow adoption of the advanced gaming hardware, VR gaming is finally ramping up in popularity.
Following poor initial sales of the Meta Quest 3, VR gaming saw a huge boost after the recent Black Friday sales. The sales period saw the Quest 3 jump from less that 1% adoption on PC to the fourth most popular headset on the market.
Market research firm GfK revealed (via GI.Biz) that sales in the UK saw the “biggest ever revenue week for VR”. Compared to previous years, more users purchased VR equipment in the United Kingdom than ever before.
Sales of VR headsets increased by 33% over the same sales period last year. Furthermore, VR headset revenue was up by a total of 17% during the same period. These sales are led by huge discounts to the Meta Quest 2 headset which saw massive price reductions during the Black Friday celebrations.
However, customers were also buying into VR headsets that weren’t on sale, likely buying presents for the Christmas period. Despite not having sales discounts, extra units of the PlayStation VR2 and the Meta Quest 3 were shipped compared to the norm.
While the Meta Quest 2 dominated sales of virtual reality hardware, other headsets did also make a dent in the sales charts. For example, the ByteDance’s Pico VR headsets — which have been seemingly abandoned on the software side — still saw larger sales, likely by users who don’t know the hardware’s lack of software support.
With huge AAA blockbusters such as Assassin’s Creed Nexus and Asgard’s Wrath 2 on the Meta Quest headsets, it’s clear why this particular brand of VR or MR devices are clearly above the competition, even if its expensive Meta Quest Pro was a gigantic failure.
The Meta Quest 3 is currently available to purchase at most major tech retailers, as well as its predecessor.