After a succession of leaks, Meta has officially unveiled its lower-priced Meta Quest 3S headset line-up, which launches on 15th October.
Meta Quest 3S starts at £289.99/$299.99 USD with 128GB of storage, but there’s also a 256GB option priced at £379.99/$399.99. To put that into context, the 128GB Meta Quest 2 weighs in at around $199.99, and the 128GB Quest 3 now costs $429.99. However, Meta has confirmed it’s phasing out Quest 2, the Quest Pro, and the 128GB version of Quest 3 – leaving just the 512GB Quest 3 (now slashed by $150 to $499.99) as an alternative.
As for specs, the Meta Quest 3S’ innards are similar to those of the Meta Quest 3, and the inclusion of the same Snapdragon XR2 Gen 2 chipset means it’ll be able to play previously Quest 3-exclusive games. The major differences, however – beyond a slightly larger form factor and no depth sensor – are a narrower field of view and a reduction in display resolution – with the 3S coming it in at 1832 x 1920 per eye, compared to the Meta Quest 3’s 2064 x 2208.
At £290, though, the Meta Quest 3S still sounds like a strong proposition for the VR curious, particularly as it’s bundled with the Quest 3’s slick Touch Plus controllers, three months of Meta Quest+, and a copy of Batman: Arkham Shadow. Eurogamer’s Tom Phillips was impressed by this new canonical VR instalment of Rocksteady’s acclaimed Arkham series when he played it earlier this year, and Meta clearly thinks it’s winner too – it’s also being bundled with all new Meta Quest 3 purchases made between now and 30th April next year.
Meta Quest 3S launches on 16th October, and pre-orders open today.