Meta debuts Quest Pro VR headset, which is priced like your parents’ mortgage

If you would like to take a stroll through the metaverse, does Meta have a deal for you: the Quest Pro VR headset, which can be yours for $1,500, which also happens to be the median rent cost for a one-bedroom apartment in Charlotte. 

What does a VR headset that’s priced like a home get you? A whole bunch of technical advances: lighter lenses, more pixels, better and more accurate audio experience. It will also have backwards compatibility with the Meta Quest app, and in general, will give VR users a cutting-edge experience. 

Still, the question remains: who exactly is going to buy this thing?

The Quest 2 headset is $400, and while the Quest Pro represents some significant advances in technology, it’s simply priced in a manner that doesn’t suggest it’s for casual use. The Quest Pro VR might be aiming at businesses and designers that could make use of VR, but the applications of VR and mixed-reality headsets in helping those businesses are still nascent at best. 

If it all works out and businesses buy in, the Quest Pro will be an important step in the direction of Mark Zuckerburg’s plans for the metaverse and how businesses will accomplish work within it, and not just have some VR headsets lying around for fun. This is technology that can move Meta and its virtual reality universe away from the off-brand Sims graphics they’ve shown so far, and the focus on text and mixed reality applications should appeal to business owners with money to burn.

The problem remains that price tag in a world where most businesses aren’t doing things inside the metaverse. Because if you’re a business interested in doing work within the metaverse, that means going all in on headsets like these. And that’s a substantial investment that even Meta’s investors aren’t sure of. The company’s shares were down 4.5 percent in midday trading following the announcement of the new headset.

The product may be the most cutting-edge VR headset on the market. But if it’s geared toward the future of business in the metaverse and that future never pans out, what’s the point?