Meta Launches VR Subscription Service Quest+

Facebook parent Meta has launched a virtual reality (VR) game subscription service, as it modifies its approach to the VR headset market, which it dominates, amidst heavy investment and a lack of interest in “metaverse” virtual world applications.

The service, called Quest+, gives users access to two selected games each month, and if the user adds those games to their library they will remain available as long as the user continues subscribing.

The user loses access to the games if the subscription lapses, but if they resubscribe they would regain access to the games they previously added to their library.

‘Bang for your buck’

Meta said the value of the two monthly games would be up to $60 (£47), in theory making the subscription price of $7.99 per month or $59.99 per year an attractive one.

But the appeal rests on whether the user likes the particular two games Meta has chosen in any given month.

Meta said Quest+ also saves users from having to hunt around for individual games in the Quest store to buy.

“Subscription services have been a great way to get more bang for your buck as far back as the Blockbuster days,” Meta said in a statement that followed an announcement on social media by Meta chief executive Mark Zuckerberg. “We’re excited to give gamers on Meta Quest a new way to explore all their headsets have to offer.”

Facebook changed its name to Meta in 2021 in a bid to distance itself from Facebook-related data scandals and to emphasise a “metaverse” future it envisaged based on VR headsets and virtual interactions in 3D worlds.

Headset competition

To date, however, the appeal of VR headsets remains mostly confined to games, while Meta’s Reality Labs headset division reported a net loss of $4bn in the first three months of the year.

Meta cut the prices of its Oculus headsets in March in a bid to increase make them more accessible.

Apple announced its entry into the headset market earlier this month with the Vision Pro, a mixed-reality device that seeks to take such devices beyond games and the “metaverse”.

Apple’s approach is instead to transpose familiar computing applications such as videoconferencing and entertainment into an immersive 3D environment, a concept Apple calls “spatial computing”.