Quest for the Metaverse: Ahead of Its Time or a Bumbled Launch?

The Metaverse is a “hypothetical iteration of the Internet as a single, universal, and immersive virtual world that is facilitated by the use of virtual reality and augmented reality headsets.” Zuckerberg has drawn inspiration from brands like Kleenex by naming his company Meta, envisioning it as the future of the internet.

His portal to the Metaverse is the Meta Quest, Quest Pro, and Quest II, with less than lackluster sales on all three headsets. The Quest launched in 2019 for $1,500, eventually falling to $1,000 due to low demand and declining sales. The Meta Quest II and Quest Pro were released in 2020. However, the Quest III's recent announcement has led to a significant price drop for the Quest II to $240.

From my POV, the Apple Vision Pro is more of a slam dunk than the Meta Quest or Quest Pro — although the price is much higher. Its augmented reality permits users to keep one foot IRL (in real life) vs. the total immersion of the Metaverse. Some quick feedback on challenges to the Quest:

• It’s too heavy on the forehead, so you’re counterbalancing the weight on the front of your head to keep you from tilting down. The first version is 750 grams or 1.65 lbs. It doesn’t sound like much, but this can cause a strain on your neck after two or three hours. However, with Quest II, users experience “VR Face” marks on their cheeks from the device's weight. This was due to the weight of the battery on the front vs. the back with the original Quest.

• The Quest Pro was geared to entice companies to purchase headsets for remote workers. This is further validated with productivity and workplace apps pre-installed, such as Microsoft Teams and 365 adapted for virtual reality. However, remote users have trouble interacting with Excel with the headset vs. desktop. Zuckerberg's answer to these complaints is the Quest Pro debuted ahead of its time, stating the Metaverse would catch on “later this decade” once the tech as “full matured. Meaning there was a lag in overall VR adoption.

• Consumers still preferred the ease of Zoom, staying connected via Slack to their co-workers. The big miss here was Meta showcasing company case studies highlighting its efficiency or agreeing on how Quest improves corporate workflow. A simple face-face regroup was more work as users needed to put on their headsets instead of turning on their webcam.

• Confusion about the names: The Oculus name was rebranded to Meta in 2021, adopting the new corporate name. To confuse things more, the Quest Pro version of the headset was released simultaneously with the Quest II version.

Did the Metaverse deliver? After spending billions, the Metaverse has not impressed users — — at least in its current state. Zuckerberg took the impossible mission of building an entire infrastructure but fell short with meme comparisons to IMVU and other online communities thriving without an expensive headset.

Is there a way for Meta to turn the Quest into a success story? The verdict is out, but it's steering to “no.” Although I think Zuckerberg is correct, it's ahead of its time — The technology has not made it user-friendly. Virtual reality adoption is still in its infancy. The 100 million user breakthrough is years away, expected by 2027. The more significant issue is the billions of mobile phones competing for eyeballs that can be just as expensive as a Quest.

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