VR is becoming a big thing in the field of entertainment. and plenty of companies have tried to take the crown for having the best headset on the market. With more and more headsets released by the year, an even larger number of people will want to get their hands on one. This makes it important to know what you are looking for, such as pricing, features, and most importantly, gaming.
Pricing:
The biggest headsets on the market right now include the Meta Quest 2, the Apple Vision Pro, the Valve Index, and the PlayStation VR2. The headsets out today come in a wide price range.
The Meta Quest 2 from Meta currently goes for $200 brand new. Meanwhile, the Valve Index from Valve is a $1000 headset that also requires a powerful PC to run graphics-heavy games on. Without considering the cost of games that will need to be purchased on Steam, that is 5x the price of the Quest 2.
The Apple Vision Pro is even more expensive at a staggering price of $3,500 and you can be expected to pay an extra $100 for accessories. Recently, it has been rumored that Apple lost money on the Vision Pro, although the company did not state this. However, some people who bought the headset returned it because of discomfort.
PlayStation’s PSVR2 goes for about $500 and only works with a PS5. Once again, that is another headset that you can be expected to pay $1000 for if you do not have the PS5. The Meta Quest 2 is the most affordable headset out of these other huge brands.
Gaming:
Each one of these headsets has its own specific online shop to play games and apps. Some of the most popular VR games that can be found on most headsets are Beat Saber, Super Hot, Job Simulator, Gorilla Tag, and Five Nights at Freddy’s: Help Wanted.
The Valve Index uses Steam VR to run its games, this means that one must also purchase their games off of Steam as well. As previously mentioned, the quality of the games that you play is entirely up to the specs of your PC or laptop. If you have a bad PC, you can expect bad performance. One of the most played games on Steam VR is Warthunder.
Apple’s Vision Pro headset leaves much to be desired when it comes to gaming. For a brand-new headset created by an expensive company, the Apple Vision Pro does not have any major games that most people would think about buying a VR headset for. For now, all that can be said about it is that people would buy it for bragging rights.
PlayStation honestly does an amazing job with the games that they have been able to produce for VR while also maintaining a steady quality for the consoles they have made. Considering that you have a PS5 to link to your PSVR 2, you can expect an average performance in games. Beat Saber, Horizon: Call Of The Mountain, and Resident Evil Village are the most enjoyed PSVR 2 experiences.
Lastly, the Meta Quest 2 runs games at a decent performance. The exact resolution of the games may not be the best compared to the other headsets but it’s not something extremely noticeable. The Meta Store library is huge and has what most people would look for when it comes to the majority of games such as Tetris Effect: Connected, The Walking Dead: Saints and Sinners, and Star Wars: Vader Immortal.
Gaming-wise, the choice comes down to the Valve Index and Meta Quest 2. They tie when looking at the large catalog of playable games. The Valve Index exclusively has games like Half-Life Alyx while Meta Quest 2 has Resident Evil 4. Even then, it is still possible to use a linking cable from your Quest 2 headset to a PC and play the same exact games a Valve Index can. This is another win for the Meta Quest 2.
Conclusion:
Each one of the headsets mentioned offers many pros and cons when it comes to the different expectations mentioned. However, if it were to come down to weighing the best between the worst, the Meta Quest 2 in my opinion is the headset to look for. The Meta Quest 2 makes experiencing VR extremely affordable and can be an amazing investment for gaming.
Some early versions of the Meta Quest 2 still have the Oculus logo on the top of the headset. Credit for image – Meta
