Meta Launches VR Subscription Service - Slashdot

Posted by BeauHD

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  I cant believe facebook is still a thing. I haven't used it for 7 years now. I would recommend people just not use the service, let along pay 8k for a pair of goggles.

  YOU WANT VR, WALK OUTSIDE FOR A FEW MINUTES

• Subscribers will get access to two new games each month, which they can play as long as the subscription is active
  
  It's failed before it even starts

• I have an Oculus Quest 2, and while I have to say it's a great VR headset, in the end I have come to realize that I just don't care for many VR games.

  There are a handful of VR games I do enjoy, but outside that I'm just not keen on trying more regularly, so the subscription while it seems a good value, is not enticing to me.

  I think Playstation has a real advantage here because if you subscription to the higher Playstation Plus levels you get games not just for the VR headset they offer, but the console as w

  • Re:

    But it isn't a great VR headset. It is a mediocre one at a cheapish price. It is missing a bunch of simple QoL items that make it tedious. Hell, you can only adjust the pupilary distance of the eyepieces in increments of 5mm. That is WAY too large if one of those positions isn't what your PD actually is. You will be playing perpetually out-of-focus

    • Re:

      But it isn't a great VR headset. It is a mediocre one at a cheapish price.

      Yeah but that is what makes it great! It's cheap enough if you end up not using it as much, it's less of punch to the gut than if you had sprung $600 for a better one... the price/value ratio is I think optimal.

      I ran into the focus issue myself a bit but could nudge it just a little out of the click range so it's clear enough for me.

• They should call it the MetaBerry+.

  • Re:

    They're basically Blackberry, Nokia, and Microsoft (Windows Mobile), who failed to anticipate the iPhone, and then after it was released mocked it naively thinking it was not a threat. Zuckerberg is talking just like Steve Ballmer did back in 2007: https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]

    Btw.. it was easily predictable years in advance that a phone like the iPhone would win the market. Reference: https://hardware.slashdot.org/... [slashdot.org]

    • Re:

      Thanks for the laughs. I love Steve Ballmer *sigh*

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]

• This is the old model used by Xbox Live, PS Plus, and... Stadia. You subscribe, and every month get the chance to "claim" two games. They are active as long as your account is active. (Can have gaps, and the content will not be removed when you resume paying).

  However the value only comes after being subscribed for a long time. 10, 12, 20 months, and you collect a sizable library. Otherwise it is just $8 to try two games.

  The current working model has evolved. Game Pass, and PS Premium: You get to access a rotating library of premium titles. Most stay there almost "forever" some are very quick touch and go (like famous Grant Theft Auto or Red Dead Redemption titles). This way any time you pay the monthly fee, you get a good enough library. And the network effect works in favor of everyone getting a good deal (including the game devs).

  Bottom line: the model is tried, and not working well.

  • Re:

    I would agree on everything except for the fact that the Oculus isn't a console. It's more of a mobile device and the software should be priced appropriately.
    
    Meta failed on so many levels with the Oculus that I think it's completely impossible to make it happen now. I'll list a few
    
    1) The store prices are too high... for everything. They charge $10 for novelty videos that display the VR experience. They should have been $1 or $2. Games... I think they charge $30 for BeatSaber on Quest or $20 on Steam. And th

• I could now subscribe for 8 bucks a month and get two random games that may or may not be what I'm looking for (I looked at them... it's closer to not). And I will be allowed to play them for as long as I subscribe, and allow Meta to leech my data and pester me about how wonderful their other junk is.

  Or I could buy them for about 17 [steampowered.com], about 20 [steampowered.com], about 25 [steampowered.com] or 12.50 [steampowered.com], always assuming that I want all four of them, to keep for as long as I want, provided I want them at all.

  And this is always assuming, hoping and pr

• it MIGHT be viable to get ALL games for 8 bucks a month, but the shortage of quality games on the services is going to make this tank i'd bet.

• • Re:

    This was always the end goal for Meta with VR. Get people paying a subscription to wander around in a VR world. It's the whole reason they bought Oculus in the first place. Forcing people into using Facebook, watching ads, and paying for that subscription are all easy to implement and enforce if you own the flagship hardware.
    
    Unfortunately for Meta, they forgot that you need a viable platform before you can monetize it to death. VR hardware on it's own isn't good enough to get people coughing up money for

    • Re:

      Facebook has a lot of money still to burn through, and could borrow a whole lot more, so they could spend many years chasing this particular rainbow.
      Let's hope they do.
      My personal view is that VR is never going to happen, just like 3D TV will never happen.
• Two things people hate, Facebook and yet another subscription. What could go wrong?