Oculus Quest from Facebook was termed as the most important headset for VR industry in 2019. In fact, it even lived up to its expectations and the headset has made virtual reality more accessible both in terms of ease of use and price. In fact, it is selling better than what Facebook has planned. We shall get deep into the article on how Oculus Devices sold out in a positive sign for VR. By the end of the article, you will have an idea about Oculus Devices sale creating a positive impact for Virtual Reality.
Oculus Devices Sold out in a positive sign for VR
One of the biggest challenges for VR industry is to reach any kind of scale. Ever since the products are launched Sony’s Playstation VR sold out around 4.7 million units and HTC Vive around 1.3 million.
As per a SuperData Research Oculus Rift has sold around 1.5 million. That’s not enough installed base to attract developers and VR has been a failure as per many people so far. It is not enough to qualify as a product that retailers wish to dedicate shelf space.
If you order a VR Headset today you will have to wait for nearly 2 months. That shows whether Virtual Reality has reached mass market or not.
Virtual Reality Companies have been facing plenty of challenges to reach scale. Out of which one of them is its price. The other fact is very less percentage of people have used high end VR as it is not so accessible to consumers. Oculus Quest is trying to figure out all these obstacles and reach the maximum number of audience.
Hottest Christmas Gift in Virtual Reality
It’s not a coincidence that Quest is sold out over the holidays. It is a perfect price point as a gift and many consumers will find it having gamers in their lives. However, hot holiday sales doesn’t mean the headset is on a long term trajectory. History says it all that Consumer goods having a boost during the holiday season doesn’t last long and will not even generate a long term value.
For instance GoPro is a company that mainly relies on holidays. It faced problems with overbuilding inventory lacking the mark with product designs. It even dreaded undersupply of inventory. The stock has lost almost 95% of its peak value as it couldn’t balance the supply and demand challenges of holidays.
It even happened with another company Nintendo despite being extremely popular. There is not much enduring about it and it’s stock price crashed after an initial popularity. Initially it has seen a meteoric rise from 2007 to 2009 and this is because of customers seeing a handful of games which they have seen during the holidays.
Oculus to build an enduring Platform
One thing that is not clear is whether Facebook and Oculus can build an enduring platform or not. Devices are selling fast as Oculus is making them right now but we shall see whether their use increase along with content library expansion.
2019 holiday season turned out to be positive for both Oculus and VR. Hard Work needs to be done in 2020 in order to make the industry sustainable for a long term. That’s where the long term value exists for Facebook Shareholders.
Oculus need to put its efforts so that it can sustain in the highly competitive industry for a long tenure rather than see a growth in sales for a particular point of time i.e. holidays. This can lead to an increase in their use too along with Virtual Reality being accessible to plenty of people.
Hope, you got an idea about Oculus Devices sold out creating a positive impact for Virtual Reality.
