Pico plans to launch Neo 3 Link in the USA and spend “tons of money” funding VR content, Protocol reports.
The ByteDance owned company launched Neo 3 Link in Europe over the last month. The hardware is remarkably similar to Meta’s Quest 2, with some minor differences such as a native DisplayPort PC VR mode and included hard strap.
Pico described the European launch as a “beta program”, asking buyers to provide “feedback on upgrades to the Pico Store, Pico user account, payment, social, and other services”, and hasn’t yet said anything about a potential North America expansion. But Protocol spotted a job listing for head of Consumer Sales “responsible for the sales and marketing of Pico’s overall product in the US consumer market”.
Pico’s store already has over 100 titles, including some of the top selling VR games like Superhot VR, Demeo, After The Fall, Arizona Sunshine, Eleven: Table Tennis, Walkabout Minigolf, and Warplanes: WW1 Fighters. But some of Quest 2’s most successful content is owned or funded by Meta, including Beat Saber, Population One, Resident Evil 4, The Climb, Echo Arena, and Onward. Meta is also funding Assassin’s Creed, Splinter Cell, and Grand Theft Auto VR games.
Protocol reports a source told it ByteDance is willing to spend “tons of money” for VR games and experiences of its own. The outlet found job listings for a ‘Pico Studios’ organization including head of Pico Studios, a head of VR Game Strategy – Pico Studios, a head of Overseas Content Ecosystem – Pico Studios and an operations manager.
Neo 3 Link sells for €449 in Europe and comes with the same 256 GB storage as the €449 model of Quest 2. That suggests it may be priced at $399 in the US, though it’s possible Pico also plans a cheaper 128 GB model too.
Neo 3 Link’s “beta program” European launch remains very limited – it’s not even sold by Amazon or other major retailers. Quest 2 remains 76 times more popular than Neo 3 on Steam, but these job listings suggest ByteDance is waiting to build up a truly competitive content library to fully take on Meta.
