Xbox is putting out its very own special edition of the Meta Quest 3S, which includes three months ofGame PassUltimate. This is the latest collaboration between Xbox and a hardware manufacturer; Microsoft recently also announcedits very own handheld gaming PC, the ROG Xbox Ally. It’s part of a bigger general shift by Xbox away from gaming consoles and towardsa massive library of Play Anywhere games, and marks the Xbox line’s first venture into the world of VR.
Meta Quest 3 Xbox Edition Is $399.99 & Includes Game Pass
What’s Inside (& Why It Matters)
The Xbox edition of the Quest 3S is available beginning today. It’s visually distinct from the original Quest 3S in its custom color scheme, which features black and that characteristic Xbox light green. The bundle costs $399.99, and comes witha three-month subscription to Game PassUltimate, Microsoft’s dedicated subscription service for distributing new and classic games. This is the highest tier of Game Pass, granting access to the entire library of games, as well as day-one releases.
The Meta Quest 3S is the slightly lower-end version of the current generation of VR headsets - it has a slightly lower-quality screen and lenses, but its internal components are largely the same.It provides similar performance to the Quest 3, whether you’re running games natively on the headset or playing PCVR games through a link cable or Quest’s remote link features.
However, the main focus of the Xbox Quest is not on running games natively or streaming them from PCVR -it’s all about cloud streaming. The Xbox app, which allows users to access their Game Pass library and play games remotely, has been available on the Meta Quest line of VR headsets since 2023. Now,Xbox is throwing its weight behind cloud streaming in VR officially, with a custom version of the Quest 3S to show off its capabilities.
Everything Included In The Meta Quest 3 Xbox Edition
What Else Is Inside
Besides the 128 GB Quest 3S and the three-month Game Pass subscription,the bundle also includes a set of Touch Plus controllers for VR games, and a limited-edition Xbox wireless controllerin a matching color scheme. You can use either of these with your Game Pass games in the Xbox app. In addition, you’ll get a three-month subscription to Meta Horizon+, which is the VR headset’s equivalent to Game Pass, with an ever-evolving library of VR games available at no additional cost.
When you break it down item by item, it’s a pretty good deal in terms of what you’re getting for the price: the bundle saves you roughly $50, compared to purchasing all the items individually. However, it’s still a bit of an unusual choice. The fact of the matter is thatyou can’t actually play VR games through the Xbox app on Meta Quest; what you’re effectively buying here is the ability to play non-VR Game Pass games on a virtual screen. That’s why the Xbox controller is included - the games themselves don’t support head tracking or motion controls.
Remote streaming on the Meta Quest is cool, but it’s not quite the same as playing VR games. It’s not exactly the kind of thing you want to hinge Meta Quest sales on. Cloud streaming doesn’t use the headset to its fullest capabilities, instead focusing on what’s effectively just a parlor trick the Quest 3S is capable of. That said, this is still a pretty good deal if you’re interested inGame Passcloud streaming in VR and don’t have a compatible controller yet - but otherwise, I struggle to see the point.
