At last month’s Game Developers Conference, Meta gave an update on the Quest marketplace, which caught the attention of many in the gaming industry. The company revealed that content sales on the Quest platform have surpassed $2 billion in revenue, but that number isn’t new. Surprisingly, Meta shared the same figure over a year ago, signaling a slowdown in growth.
Back when the Quest hit the market in 2019, developers saw their revenues climbing significantly, especially during the Quest 2 phase. However, over the past two years, the pace of revenue growth has noticeably decreased.
Meta has, over time, announced various milestones for its store, like the $2 billion mark celebrated in September 2023. Fast forward more than a year and a half, and they’re still talking about this same number again. This suggests they haven’t quite reached $3 billion yet. The logical assumption is that by March 2025, revenues hovered around $2.9 billion.
Analyzing these numbers, it’s clear that after an impressive surge in the Quest 2 era, there hasn’t been much change. The release of Quest 3 and Quest 3S hasn’t sparked the same growth.
From the updates, a few additional nuggets of information emerged, although details were scarce. Meta reported a 12% increase in total payments in 2024, and users spent 30% more time in VR compared to the year prior. Unfortunately, despite inquiries from Road to VR, Meta hasn’t elaborated on why these numbers have stalled at the “$2 billion” buzzword for over a year.
Reflecting on the context of these figures, the Quest 2 launched in October 2020 when pandemic lockdowns had people craving new entertainment outlets. It was introduced at an appealing $300 price, driving significant adoption. Quest 3, however, came onto the scene in October 2023 with a heftier $500 tag and promoted features like ‘mixed reality,’ which didn’t quite meet expectations initially.
Recognizing that the steeper price of Quest 3 wasn’t hitting the mark like its predecessor, Meta rolled out the Quest 3S in October 2024, reverting to the more economical $300 price tag. They also adjusted the price of the high-end 512GB Quest 3, slashing it from $650 to $500.
With just half a year since the launch of Quest 3S and the price cut for Quest 3, it’s still too early to see the full impact on platform spending. However, new tariffs introduced by the Trump administration could disrupt this new pricing strategy.
Beyond prices and hardware capabilities, Meta noted a significant shift in user demographics and spending trends on the Quest platform. A younger audience now drives more interest in free-to-play games, reshaping the store’s landscape in unexpected ways.
