A month of paused sales seems to have detracted from the Oculus Quest 2’s usage lead in the latest Steam Hardware Survey.
August’s results put Facebook’s standalone headset at 32.15% of the overall headset usage on SteamVR. That’s 0.42% less than last month, and perhaps the first time we’ve seen Quest 2’s lead actually shrink since its launch late last year. Note that it is possible these figures might be changed in the coming days. Valve usually irons out any errors earlier in the month, but overall headset usage on Steam is down to 1.74%, which may well indicate there are changes afoot.
Either way, remember that this doesn’t necessarily mean there are fewer people using Quest 2 on Steam, just that more people using other headsets have taken some of that share.
Oculus Quest 2 Steam Lead Shrinks
Whatever the case, there’s good reason for a possible reduction in Quest 2’s share. In late July, Facebook paused sales of the headset as it participated in what it called a “voluntary recall” of devices in response to a small group of users reporting issues with skin irritation using the packed-in facial interface. Sales of the device didn’t resume until August 24, with a new silicone cover included in the box. It also removed the original 64GB, $299 iteration of the device from sale and replaced it with a 128GB version for the same price.
This pause in sales likely explains the decrease given that other headsets still on sale would have been free to increase their share of usage during that time. That said, Valve’s Index headset also went down to 15.99%, a decrease of 0.24% this month. Overall, however, Quest 2 is still comfortably in front of other devices and still accounts for nearly 1-in-3 headsets on Steam. There aren’t any other significant shifts to talk about this month.
2021 will likely round out quietly on the VR hardware side. Sony’s PS5 VR headset won’t be discussed at this week’s big showcase event and, although Facebook is holding its Connect developer conference in late October, it’s looking increasingly like this year’s big reveal will be its smartglasses made in partnership with Ray-Ban.
Don’t expect a significant shakeup in the Steam Hardware Survey results anytime soon, then.
