JAKARTA - Delivery of virtual and augmented reality headsets worldwide is reportedly down 12% to 9.6 million by 2023 according to data from CCS Insight. This is a problem for Meta and other technology companies investing in the potential of the digital world.
According to data shared with CNBC by research firm NPD Group, sales of VR headsets in the US also fell 2% from the previous year to US$1.1 billion (Rp17 trillion) in early December,
More than a year after Mark Zuckerberg's company rebranded and nearly two months after laying off 11,000 employees, Meta's long-term stake in its consumer adaptation to the metaverse has yet to come to fruition.
The California-based company has lost more than 30 billion US dollars (Rp 466 trillion) to the metaverse and its first attempt in the virtual world, Horizon Worlds, which has been considered a 'buggy' and is not internally popular with employees.
The concept is that one day consumers want to work, play, and spend money in the digital world that doesn't exist yet, which is accessible to headsets like Meta's Quest 2.
The device, which analysts say is a leader in the VR market, saw a decline in sales in 2022, which could be attributed to a great year in 2021 as consumers rushed to try it.
VR had an extraordinary holiday in 2021, said Ben Arnold, an electronics analyst for NPD consumers, to CNBC. This refers to promotions that increased device sales at the time. Last year was the right time to get one of these products, and VR really destroyed it, added Arnold.
Various factors contributed to the decline in sales of Meta that occurred later. The company decided to increase the price of Quest 2 over the summer, which may not be suitable for consumers who feel inflationary pressure for various daily purchases throughout the year.
"High inflation has hit consumer budgets in many major markets this year, and some, who in better situations will pamper themselves with a virtual reality headset in 2022, have delayed their purchases," Marina Koytcheva, Vice President of SCS Insight, said in a recent report quoted by the Daily Mail.
"We also see signs of business becoming more careful in investing in extended realities until the economic picture becomes clearer," Koytcheva said.
The new VR Meta headset, Quest Pro, costs $ 1,500 and is marketed more towards business. That price point is likely too high for many metaverse fans.
Leo Gebbie, an analyst at CCS Insight, told CNBC that the rise in Meta prices was a surprise given that the company is willing to sell headsets with low margins to try and encourage the use of VR and gain a high market share.
It remains unclear whether the VR device will recover in 2023, given the potential for a overshadowing recession and a lack of consumer enthusiasm.
Apple's mixed reality headset, which is rumored to have worked for years, could become a real product by 2023.
According to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, the new Apple device will be a premium product worth between $ 2,000 and 3,000, containing Mac-level M2 chips and will feature 10 cameras placed inside and outside the device.
The device will have an operating system called realityOS featuring mixed reality versions of popular Apple apps such as Messages, FaceTime, and Maps. The first version of the operating system is currently complete.
Apple Inc. CEO, Tim Cook, was searching last November for software manufacturers with experience in visual effects and game asset flow that can create digital content for augmented- and virtual-reality environments.
Despite the reported headset offer, Cook said in October that most consumers could not determine what the metaverse was and dismissed the notion that they would spend their entire life sinking into the digital world.
"I always think it's important for people to understand what something is," Cook told Dutch media, Bright. And I'm not really sure the average person can tell you what a metaverse is.
In addition, Sony's PlayStation VR2 headset will be launched in February 2022 for $550, but the device requires owners to have a PlayStation 5 as a way to run it.
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