Shops would be essential to the democratization of VR, Meta now understand it. Mark Zuckerberg shared an image last weekend that seemed to hint at physical stores Meta, where it would be a question of proposing to the customers to test the games before a possible purchase of the latter or the helmet, following the example (for the games on flat screens) of the supermarkets or other specialized shops.
The image had been posted on his wall Facebook with the following caption: “Guess where this was taken? Incidentally, the game had also not been chosen at random since it is the best-seller of Meta Questor even VR all mediums combined, Beat Saber. Background, we can see shelves containing products resembling the range Meta and Oculus (Quest 2, Quest 1, Oculus Go) and accessories that seem to correspond to it (headband storage box Elite Strap as well as the charging station Anker for the Quest 2.
Confirmed recently through the account instagram of Mark Zuckerberg, we now know that this Meta Storelocated in the city of Burlingame in California, will open its doors on May 9 and will offer the sale of branded products (Quest, Portal, Stories…).
In this regard, Mark Zuckerberg said:
It’s a great way to see how our products connect people today and get a sense of what’s to come as we build towards the metaverse. […] At Meta Store, we want you to interact with everything. We want you to try a lot of things. We want you to feel them.
However, Meta did not say if other stores will follow suit. Last November, the New York Times had reported that Meta had been planning for more than a year to open physical stores. When he wasn’t called Meta, Facebook had already opened pop-up stores when it launched its Oculus Go in 2018, in partnership with existing retailers. As an example, theOculus Rift had demonstration terminals at BestBuy and showcases for theOculusQuest were able to find takers at a number of retailers.
If the VR and theAR struggle to break through, it is above all because the uninitiated are unaware and are far from imagining all the possibilities offered by these technologies. You may have had your own experience in which these same uninitiated associate the VR directly to the motion sickness, think that it is incidental (like a Google Cardboard) or that it is neither more nor less than a 2D flat screen placed 2 cm from sight. By giving them the real demonstration, the a priori dissipate to give way to a real “wow effect”.
Let’s bet that Meta has really planned to deploy these stores, since like clothes, each accessory will not necessarily suit the size of the head or more mainly the morphology of each person, in particular the headbands. Choosing the right accessory for us could potentially remove more than one barrier to adopting a solution VR ! Let’s not get carried away, it could be that the appearance of the first Meta Store just act as a test before a possible deployment, it will therefore be necessary to wait some time to know whether or not it is a successful bet!
If you haven’t yet taken the plunge VRyou can afford a Oculus Quest 2 at the house of Bakerthe Fnac, Darty Where Amazon for €349.99.