Facebook Oculus Quest is driving virtual reality sales

Facebook Oculus - man using VR Oculus headset

VR is starting to attract people’s attention to a growing degree primarily due to this one gadget.

Virtual reality has always had appeal, but the sales haven’t reflected this draw until Facebook Oculus Quest recently started driving things forward.

This technology still has a futuristic and science fiction feeling for most average consumers.

VR devices have been available to consumers since about 2016. Since then, the numbers have been disappointing at best. That said, new figures are indicating that Facebook Oculus Quest may be sending sales in a new and more positive direction.

The social network’s VR gadget launched in May for $399. The device offers consumers the best virtual reality experience currently available. Moreover, unlike the other higher-end virtual reality devices available to consumers, this one doesn’t require tethering to a computer to work. Instead, everything it needs is built right into the headset. This reduced a great deal of the inconvenience and the cost that could be associated with this type of experience.

Facebook Oculus Quest sales are good enough that they appear to be bolstering the entire VR industry.

The Nielsen industry tracker’s SuperData Research says the VR device’s sales are holding up the entire virtual reality industry. It represents about 31 percent of hardware spending in 2019. This is a substantial increase to $2.1 billion this year, from having been $1.6 billion in 2018. SuperData also showed that consumers aren’t the only ones investing in Quest purchases. Companies are also buying these devices as they spot the opportunity behind virtual reality.

This new sales data is indicating that even though VR has had a rough start in terms of adoption, it looks like things are finally starting to move. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg first announced the acquisition of the Oculus VR startup back in 2014. The company was purchased for $2 billion with the intention of using virtual reality for more than just gaming. Instead, Zuckerberg had his sights set on communications, education, medicine, and the technology industry as a whole.

By the time the device launched, there were a number of powerful players in the VR sphere, including Google, Microsoft, HTC, Sony, and Valve. That said, despite the hype, consumers didn’t appear to be Facebook Oculus - man using VR Oculus headsetready to shop for these costly early gadgets in droves. Now, it appears that the Facebook Oculus Quest may be breaking away from the rest and could be hauling the rest of its industry along with it.

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