Meta Unveils Quest 3S Xbox Edition for $400, Bundled with Controller & 3 Months of Cloud Gaming

Sure, here’s a reimagined version of the article:

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So, Meta and Microsoft just dropped this new thing: the Quest 3S Xbox Edition. Honestly, it’s like a surprise gift for gamers out there, landing on your doorstep today. Or maybe not if you’re not into gaming. Funny how they make these drops seem so urgent.

Now, don’t get it twisted — this isn’t some grand Xbox-turned-VR breakthrough that fans have been dreaming of. Nope, not even close. It’s basically the regular Quest 3S (128GB — nothing too wild) but dressed up in Xbox’s fancy Carbon Black and Velocity Green. Who doesn’t love a new outfit, right?

Price tag? $399.99, if you’re counting. What you get inside the box is kinda neat, though. You’ll find the snazzy Touch Plus controllers for all this VR/MR stuff, a limited edition Xbox controller (just picturing all those unboxing videos now), and an Elite Strap — but not the cool battery one. Oh, and toss in a three-month Xbox Game Pass Ultimate membership for good measure. Nice touch!

There’s this image they threw in — it’s all courtesy of Meta and Microsoft. I looked at it and couldn’t help but think of how hard it is to capture the excitement of gaming in a single snapshot. Maybe that’s just me.

Honestly, if you were to snag all this stuff on its own, it’d set you back around $490. Breaking it down: Quest 3S 128GB with controllers goes for $299, the Quest Elite Strap is $69, and a basic Xbox controller’s around $64. You do the math! Oh right, and the three-month Game Pass is sixty bucks.

But hey, if you’re already a proud owner of an Xbox controller and you’ve got that Game Pass Ultimate, you might not need this fancy Quest 3S. I mean, Xbox cloud gaming has been around on Quest since 2023, letting you dive into over 400 games without this special edition. Crazy, right?

Oh, and another thing I nearly forgot. The Quest 3S Xbox Edition goodies don’t stop there. There’s a three-month subscription to Meta’s Horizon+ game service bundled in, which usually runs you $8 a month. It lets you dive into 30+ Quest games and — get this — you can keep playing two select titles each month as long as you’re still subscribed. Sweet deal? You be the judge.

And if you’re still, like, hesitating or whatever, maybe check out some reviews on the Quest 3S. Specs, impressions, the whole shebang.

Back to when all this was first announced — at Meta’s Connect 2024, remember that one in April? Apparently, they’ve got more XR headsets on the horizon. ASUS Republic of Gamers and Lenovo are jumping in with their own stuff running on Horizon OS. ASUS is gunning for performance, while Lenovo aims for, what was it? Oh yeah, “productivity, learning, and entertainment.” Like we need more distractions.

Anyway, the Quest 3S Xbox Edition is out now — you can grab it off meta.com, or wander into Best Buy if you’re in the U.S. For those across the pond, it’s at Argos and EE in the UK. But they keep saying supplies are “extremely limited.” As if that doesn’t send everyone into a frenzy.

And there you have it. What a trip, right?