Although Facebook is yet to officially reveal the total unit sales figure for its flagship Oculus Quest 2 device, numerous data sources from inside the company, alongside data from developers, puts the latest estimate at an astonishing 3 million units – and counting. Compared to PSVR, which is currently the best selling VR headset to date, the Quest 2 is reportedly outselling it at a 3 to 1 multiple.
Sony however are more than happy to release their figures, as they sit comfortably on top of VR’s sales charts. Sony has offered up official unit sales figures each year since it launched PSVR in 2016, while other headset companies continue to keep them in house. The last time the company shared its up to date PSVR sales numbers, it bragged of an increase to 5 million units, as of January 1st, 2020. An average sales increase of 1 million units per year. Interestingly, since the launch of Oculus’ Quest 2 headset, Sony hasn’t released anything since.
During the company’s Q4 2020 earnings call, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said that Quest 2 is “on track to be the first mainstream virtual reality headset,” adding that the device drove a 156% increase in the company’s non-advertising revenue earnings. Some conservative estimations previously suggested that this would indicate that around 1 million Quest 2 units had sold in Q4 of 2020 since its release on October 13th. However, developers at popular social game Rec Room have analysed their own internal data to estimate this number could in fact be closer to 2–3 million Quest 2 units that have been sold in Q4, 2020.
Zuckerberg also told investors that Facebook’s XR business was “one of the areas that I’m most excited about our progress heading into 2021.” Declining to confirm any official unit sales, he did confirm that it was “on track to be the first mainstream virtual reality headset.” Looking back to 2018, Zuckerberg said that he believed 10 million VR users would be the important milestone for the company to reach, in order to make VR development a sustainable ecosystem for developers.
We’re now at the end of quarter 4 and another three months have passed since those estimates put the figure at between 1–3 million units. If we take sales history of the PSVR at approximately 250,000 units per quarter, and go by estimations that the Quest 2 is outselling it by 3 to 1, we could add another 750,000 units to that number. Sales do typically increase in the final quarter of the calendar year due to the holiday season. So whilst its unlikely to have kept the same pace since, a revised estimate of 2-4 million units shouldn’t be far off. Oculus are closing in on PSVR.
During an interview, Andrew Bosworth, head of Facebook Reality Labs, said that Quest 2 has now outsold all of Oculus’ other headsets combined. A fantastic achievement for a headset which has only been available for six months. A big step forward for VR as an industry.
The Quest 2 has outsold the Rift (2016), Go (2018), Quest 1 (2019), Rift S (2019) combined.
What is the best selling VR headset?
PSVR is still the king of VR headsets when it comes to sales numbers. That said, it doesn’t mean it is the best VR headset out there, and it has been out much longer than most of its rival platforms. These numbers are strong enough to convince Sony to continue with its development of VR, announcing its newest model, the PSVR 2 in recent months. Don’t expect to see it hit shelves until 2022 however.
Samsung’s Gear VR did hit similar numbers, though many were bundled with phones, before being discontinued completely back in September. The Gear VR required a mobile device to be fitted to the headset as it was not a standalone device in itself.
With Oculus right on the heels of everyone in the VR space, it surely wont be long until we have a new king of VR.
