Only 1 in 3 Quest 2 Owners Are Monthly Users - Jaw-Dropping Stat Cited in Matthew Ball's Latest Report

Matthew Ball, author of The Metaverse, has a massive new report on the state of the broader game industry, "The Tremendous Yet Troubled State of Gaming in 2024", which includes this fairly surprising passage on the current state of consumer VR:

According to IDC, worldwide VR/AR headset sales fell 8.3% in 2023, a year after sales fell 20.9%… Some slowdown was expected after Meta unveiled the Quest 3 in May 2023 but set a fall release date, yet the Quest 3 appears to be selling more slowly than its predecessor. Studies suggest fewer than one in three Quest 2s are used on a monthly basis (points that harm both software and hardware sales).

Emphasis mine! I'm not completely surprised by that paltry stat just based on activity reported in the Quest store, and the device's tiny attach rate averages (2-3 games bought per owner), but checked with Matt on the source for this. Turns out he's citing a study from the Wall Street Journal (quoted in Upload VR here) which reported 6.37 million monthly active Quest 2 users last October, when the total Quest 2 install base was around 20 million.

1 in 3 is a very painfully low number, but important to know going forward. Once again I think the wider VR industry must recalibrate its market expectations, especially around reports highlighted in my book that women and girls have a high propensity to get nauseous in VR (along with a significant minority of males). A device that causes anyone in the household to get sick to the point of puking is probably not going to be used much afterward.

As for the Metaverse, Matt doesn't cover that much directly in this report, except to note the continued growth of Roblox and Fortnite — and highlighting the rise of UGC first cultivated on these platforms:

The market is also now on the cusp of many accomplished “UGC platform developers'' (i.e. Roblox developers) shifting to standalone titles. Lethal Company, which debuted in October, has grossed more than $120 million and was made by a single 21-year old developer that started on Roblox at the age of 10, and shifted to itch.io and Steam by 14.

Amazing. But expect many more stories like that in coming years.

Read Matt Ball's whole report here. Also, watch Matt and me chat metaverse stuff as avatars here.

Image via NYT