That's a fair point, but I still feel like the sales pitch is lackluster. I only know 1 person with one of these (or who talks about it), despite being surrounded by high earning tech workers.
On the other hand when I think back to the Apple Watch launch, despite early models not selling that well compared to other Apple devices I remember plenty of friends having them.
There aren’t just that many exciting games for the platform.
There are a hand full of impressive titles, but they tend to be short and eventually get boring.
There are just so much more constraints to get an immersive experience right.
Not parent, but I mostly stick to FitXR and BeatSaber. I wanted to give supernatural a try, but the whole give up a credit card in the app when the headset already has one is too shady. I haven’t tried as many as I wanted to (like the bullet one) since I’m pretty happy with my routine.
I use it for warm up and cool down. I get my main cardio from FitXR, but if I’m just not feeling it beatsaber is easy to get into for some sweat at least.
I was able to get a Quest Pro on eBay for $800. Honestly, a Quest 2 is more than good enough to start. You’ll probably be able to pick up one used for less than $200 with the quest 3 announcement
If you want more immersion though, you probably want a wheel set for about $300 and a VR ready PC which ranges from $1200 - $2000 depending on sales and assuming you’re going for midrange. It is game changing though.
You'll want a somewhat decent GPU (doesn't need to be a 4090 by any stretch, iRacing is pretty good at running on most things).
When it comes to wheel and pedals you can go cheap and all in one, like the Logitech ones, or push the boat out a bit more like I did with Fanatec gear. Then there's crazy expensive stuff like Heusinkveld.
My guess as to why there aren’t more in-store demo units is because of the need for space and staff onsite for a smooth demo. Unlike Apple, meta only has one storefront. The issue of cleanliness also calls for the need for onsite staff
The best they could do is subsidize the cost which they have done multiple times in the past. The lowest price for a Quest 2 that I’ve seen is $229
> The issue of cleanliness also calls for the need for onsite staff
I'm not sure why this is being downvoted.
As anyone who actually tried to demo a quest 2/pro knows, this was absolutely true, and still is true [1].
During covid, there were no in-store demos that I could find for the Pro or Quest 2, in my city of millions. One large chain advertised demos, but it was by appointment, and not one within 100 miles actually went through with it.
Now, with COVID restrictions gone, the locations are far between, and require assisted demos, because you can't really leave a VR headset tethered to a counter and not have something break.
The only reliable way to try was to buy it and return it. See all of the subreddits for how widespread this behavior was.
I think the real issue is that HL: Alyx is an extreme outlier in quality, in VR gaming, which isn't good.
On the other hand when I think back to the Apple Watch launch, despite early models not selling that well compared to other Apple devices I remember plenty of friends having them.