Oculus Quest 2 is definitely dropping Steam VR customers this time

The Meta Quest 2 (formerly OculusQuest 2) has remained Steam’s most popular choice of VR headset for a long time. Making up just under 50% of SteamVR users last month, Meta’s standalone headset has seen a big percentage drop in September. However, a recent Valve hardware survey blip means the situation isn’t quite as clear cut.

across september, OculusQuest 2 users on Steam dropped by 7.86%, accounting for 41.39% of SteamVR’s user base. Despite this decline, it’s still miles ahead of the Valve Index, which retains second place with a 1.77% increase, used by 17.21% of players.

Both Oculus Rift S and the original Rift saw increases of 2.88% and 2.42% respectively. That’s an unusually high leap for two discontinued headsets, and it could be the result of potential errors in Valve’s tracking. Otherwise, HTC Vive made marginal gains in fourth at 7.07%.

It’s worth noting that these aren’t the same figures we initially saw in the August 2022 Steam hardware survey. Valve first recorded a drop of 8.28% in Quest 2 users but updated those stats after its initial publication, revising this to a 0.29% increase. This meant Quest 2 users accounted for 49.25% of total SteamVR players. As such, Quest 2 remained dominant, continuing its challenge to become the best VR headset.

In a statement to UploadVR, Valve explains the reasons behind the stats update:

“The hardware survey sees natural variations in survey response rates from month to month, so some variability in the statistics is to be expected. However, the May/July jumps and extra category in August had us take a deeper look, and we’ve now fixed a few issues with the collection and analysis of data, as well as corrected the August survey results page. We expect to have more accurate results going forward.”

Oculus Quest 2: SteamVR artwork with femme presenting outline illustration of user playing with headset

Improved SteamVR headset stats

We’ve also got a much more thorough breakdown of VR headsets in Valve’s latest survey, with previous reports classing 15.07% of VR headsets under a collective ‘Other’ entry. That same category now only accounts for 1.35% of used devices, and figures for the likes of the HTC Vive Pro and Pico Neo 3 are now clearer.

Regardless, this drop in users may prove concerning for Meta after the Quest 2 price increase, especially with tough competition from Pico 4. But, with a Project Cambria (Meta Quest Pro) launch imminent and the Oculus Quest 3 well into development, VR enthusiasts could be holding out for a true next-gen experience.

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