The Meta Quest 2 (formerly Oculus Quest 2) has remained Steam’s most popular choice of VR headset for a long time. Making up just under 50% of SteamVR users last month, Meta’s standalone headset has seen a big percentage drop in September. However, a recent Valve hardware survey blip means the situation isn’t quite as clear cut.
Across September, Oculus Quest 2 users on Steam dropped by 7.86%, accounting for 41.39% of SteamVR’s user base. Despite this decline, it’s still miles ahead of the Valve Index, which retains second place with a 1.77% increase, used by 17.21% of players.
Both Oculus Rift S and the original Rift saw increases of 2.88% and 2.42% respectively. That’s an unusually high leap for two discontinued headsets, and it could be the result of potential errors in Valve’s tracking. Otherwise, HTC Vive made marginal gains in fourth at 7.07%.
It’s worth noting that these aren’t the same figures we initially saw in the August 2022 Steam hardware survey. Valve first recorded a drop of 8.28% in Quest 2 users but updated those stats after its initial publication, revising this to a 0.29% increase. This meant Quest 2 users accounted for 49.25% of total SteamVR players. As such, Quest 2 remained dominant, continuing its challenge to become the best VR headset.
In a statement to UploadVR, Valve explains the reasons behind the stats update:
“The hardware survey sees natural variations in survey response rates from month to month, so some variability in the statistics is to be expected. However, the May/July jumps and extra category in August had us take a deeper look, and we’ve now fixed a few issues with the collection and analysis of data, as well as corrected the August survey results page. We expect to have more accurate results going forward.”
Improved SteamVR headset stats
We’ve also got a much more thorough breakdown of VR headsets in Valve’s latest survey, with previous reports classing 15.07% of VR headsets under a collective ‘Other’ entry. That same category now only accounts for 1.35% of used devices, and figures for the likes of the HTC Vive Pro and Pico Neo 3 are now clearer.
Regardless, this drop in users may prove concerning for Meta after the Quest 2 price increase, especially with tough competition from Pico 4. But, with a Project Cambria (Meta Quest Pro) launch imminent and the Oculus Quest 3 well into development, VR enthusiasts could be holding out for a true next-gen experience.
