Meta’s $1,300 VR Glasses Could Be The Most Expensive Way To Play Xbox Games

Meta’s $1,300 VR Glasses Could Be The Most Expensive Way To Play Xbox Games https://ift.tt/mfaPKF1

For years, Meta has had one of the best entry-level virtual reality headsets with the Quest 3 and its slightly lower-specced successor, the Quest 3S. The VR hardware packs a punch, but if you're looking for an even lighter option, the company's new VR glasses could catch your attention. Essentially a Quest 3 that's designed to be easier to carry around, the Meta VR Glasses also come equipped with some impressive screens--and a massive price tag of $1,300 when they launch in Spring 2027.

According to Meta, the VR Glasses weigh just 100 grams, thanks to a pocket-sized puck that is tethered to the specs. This unit houses all the tech for running apps and games on the VR Glasses, and inside you'll find a Qualcomm Snapdragon Reality Elite chipset, 128GB of storage, 12GB of RAM, and a battery. The glasses feature 5K Micro OLED lenses, which can output 2412 x 2288 pixels per eye at a 120Hz refresh rate.

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Out of the box, these can access all apps and games from the Meta Quest catalog, and they support Xbox Cloud Gaming. Meta also says that they're "IMAX-Enhanced certified" as they support the Dolby Vision HDR format, and they can be used to watch 3D movies. When they arrive, users will have a library of 75 games that they can play using only their hands, or they can connect it to a gaming console or handheld as an alternate display option. These do not come with controllers by default, but you can buy Touch Plus controllers separately or pair an existing Quest 3/3S set with the glasses.

The other big feature touted by Meta are Holograms, avatars that use a photorealistic recreation of your visage. Similar to the Personas used in Apple Vision Pro headsets, you can use these to interact with people when you call other Meta VR Glasses owners. The catch here is that Holograms will be rendered as a flat stereoscopic video stream, but Meta says it plans to evolve these over time and eventually use them to replace the current cartoon-inspired avatar system.

The price tag will likely be the biggest obstacle for Meta, as at $1,300 it is more than double the cost of a 512GB Quest 3 headset and several times more expensive than a Quest 3S. The portability factor is a plus, but if you're looking for high-tech glasses that you can use specifically for watching movies or as a second screen for your consoles, then something like the Viture Beast and Pro 2 XR glasses are worth looking at. They may not be lightweight virtual reality devices, but they offer plenty of bang for your buck at a much lower price than the Meta VR Glasses.

But for pure VR gaming purposes, Meta's new VR Glasses could be a solid option, considering how the platform is already home to dozens of great games and upcoming ports, like High on Life. If you need a pricy option right now, there's also the Steam Frame, a VR headset from Valve that costs over $1,000 and has begun shipping out.