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VR traction over the past several years has been slower than many had anticipated. But it’s still finding small wins and is growing at a fairly healthy pace. So the question is how well it’s landing with consumers today, and are those sentiments trending in the right direction?
So we set out for answers. Working closely with Thrive Analytics, ARtillery Intelligence authored questions to be fielded through its established survey engine to more than 50,000 U.S. adults. The result is Wave 9 of the research, and a narrative report we published to unpack the results.
Known as VR Usage & Consumer Attitudes, Wave 9, it follows similar reports over the last few years. Nine waves of research now bring new insights and trend data to light. And all nine waves represent a collective six-digit sum of U.S. adults for robust longitudinal analysis.
Among the topics tackled: How is VR resonating with everyday consumers? How often are they using it? How satisfied are they? What types of experiences do they want most? How much are they willing to pay for it? And for those who aren’t interested in VR… why not?
Influence or Impede
After the last installment of this series examined consumers’ most desired VR use cases, we switch gears this week to look at how much they’ll pay for VR. For both hardware (headsets) and software (games/apps), how does VR’s price sensitivity stack up to other products?
As with most products, price is an important factor in VR. But what are the specific ways that price influences (or impedes) the technology’s adoption? More importantly, what price points represent triggers for consumer interest – or disinterest – in VR ownership?
Starting with current VR users (non-users covered below), the most interest exists at $201-$400 (35 percent), while the lowest interest occurs at $800-1000 (4 percent). These results aren’t surprising, as higher-end PC-based headsets have declined in demand (and supply).
But this common pattern of demand receding as price goes up wasn’t always the case. Specifically, $201-$400 is more popular than $100-$200. Though counterintuitive, there’s a good reason for this. And like many other market dynamics in this report, it’s all about Meta Quest.
Specifically, $201-$400 aligns with Meta Quest 3s’ base model ($299), and its higher tier ($399). Meta’s headsets are widely known as a strong value, which has in turn boosted their demand. Quest 3 and 3S’ value traces back to Meta’s ongoing investments to jumpstart VR adoption.
One of those investments is in lowering the price of its hardware to the point of diminishing its own margins. That makes Meta’s VR hardware a loss leader for its larger VR ambitions. A byproduct of this strategy is that consumers can get devices that are cheaper than they should be.
Good News & Bad News
All the above, again, pertains to VR users — those who have already adopted the technology. That means that their price sensitivity is expected to be a bit lower than the rest of the population. So what if we perform the same exercise for non-VR users? How much would they pay?
As expected, price sensitivity is greater among this non-user subset. In fact, the most popular pricing tier among this group was by far the lowest: <$100 (58 percent). As a sidenote, it’s worth specifying that this price point isn’t applicable to today’s real-world VR market.
In other words, VR headsets don’t exist below $100…outside of screenless viewers like the now-defunct Google Cardboard. But we include the option to demonstrate a point: VR non-users are most likely to choose the cheapest option they’re given in a survey context.
On the bright side, those only willing to spend <$100 decreased from the previous survey wave, Specifically, 26 percent are willing to spend $100-$200 – up from 19 percent. Correspondingly, 13 percent are willing to spend more than $400 – up from 7 percent in the previous wave.
That last part is notable because it’s the price point where Quest 3 (not 3s) resides. This is a strong demand signal for Meta’s latest flagship among non-users (read: the mainstream), just like it is for users as explored above. In fact, we predicted this in last year’s report:
“One key question going forward is if the $401-600 price point grows in the next survey wave, given that it’s the price range where Quest 3 currently sits. We’ll watch for that in next year’s survey…”
We’ll pause there and pick things up in the next installment. Meanwhile, check out the full report for more.