In a nutshell: When Facebook inverse its corporate name to Meta late final year, it was more than simply a simple rebranding. The move signaled the social media company was finally getting serious nigh what comes adjacent; namely, it's push button into the metaverse and by proxy, its plans for Oculus. Fittingly, it seems as though sales of the company'southward Oculus headsets are gaining traction.

IDC estimates Meta sold between 5.3 meg and 6.8 meg VR devices in 2022. Business firm figures won't be known until fourth quarter information is finalized and even then, Meta doesn't regularly disembalm Oculus sales information so nosotros may never know for certain. Even in that range, it'd notwithstanding be better than the 3.5 one thousand thousand units it is believed the company sold in 2022.

Both Jefferies and KeyBanc Capital reported downloads of the Oculus app were up over the holiday week, with Jefferies' Brent Thill noting that daily active users on Christmas Day spiked 90 percentage compared to the same menses in 2022.

Facebook purchased Oculus for $2 billion manner dorsum in 2022 only didn't really do much with the acquisition until recently. In hindsight, information technology'southward entirely possible that Facebook was merely waiting for the hardware and technology to catch up to its vision.

Indeed, most early on VR headsets of decent quality (not smartphone-assisted cardboard viewers) required a physical tether to transfer data and power to the host system, severely limiting their entreatment. Sales picked up significantly once true wireless systems started striking the marketplace.

While the Oculus app data from the holidays is promising, time will tell how much of this activity proves to exist more than casual utilize.

Image credit: Remy Gieling, Eugene Capon