SuperData XR Market Research: These Were the Top Performing VR Headsets in the Christmas Season
SuperData XR market researchers have released the XR Q4 2019 update along with projections of the XR market through to 2023. The report provides sales estimates of the Christmas season of 2019. According to the market researchers, XR revenues will grow to $14.9 billion in 2023.
On the performance of VR hardware in the fourth quarter of 2019, the SuperData report states that PlayStation VR and Oculus Quest were the best-selling virtual reality headsets. Sony sold 338,000 units in that quarter. Last year, Sony officially confirmed that it had shipped over 5 million of its PSVR headsets to date.
According to the SuperData reports, Facebook’s Oculus Quest comes second in the number of units of the hardware shipped. The market research firm estimates that 317,000 units of the standalone Oculus Quest virtual reality headsets were shipped in the fourth quarter of 2019. According to SuperData, 705,000 units of the Oculus Quest headsets have been shipped to date since their launch in May 2019.
This figure is way below the Superdata forecasts for early 2019 which predicted that Oculus Quest would sell 1.3 million units by the end of 2019. However, Facebook is yet to publish official figures on Quest headset sales figures.
Valve Index Outperforming Oculus Rift S
According to the latest SuperData market research, the high-end Valve Index headset took the third position in the fourth quarter of 2019, outperforming even the relatively affordable and impressive Oculus Rift S PC VR headset. The market researcher forecasts that Valve Index sold 103,000 units in Q4 of 2019 in spite of their exorbitant price of $1,000. SuperData cites the announcement of the upcoming virtual reality hit Half-Life: Alyx as the driving force behind the impressive Valve Index performance. The game is set to be released in March this year. According to SuperData, Valve Index sales more than doubled in the fourth quarter of 2019 compare to the third quarter of the same year.
Should this data prove accurate, it would make Valve Index the best-selling PC VR headset during the 2019 Christmas shopping season. The much cheaper Oculus Rift S headset sold only 71,000 pieces according to the market researcher which would be surprising. If these forecasts hold true, it appears that Facebook did not reap any benefits from the Half-Life: Alyx announcement and that its current strategy of offering users affordable mid-range virtual reality headsets in order to reach a larger base of users isn’t bearing any fruits yet.
The SuperData sales figures are based on data exchange in partner networks, internet analysis, consumer surveys, the official manufacturer information as well as information from industry insiders. Only Sony has so far provided official sales figures for its VR hardware.
Apart from the Q4 2019 VR hardware performance, SuperData also released projections for the XR market through 2023. In 2023, earnings from AR/MR headsets such as the HoloLens are also expected to grow considerably when the price points and form factors which will be acceptable to mainstream consumers will become more readily available. By 2023, AR/MR headset hardware as well as consumer software will earn a total of $6.6 billion representing 45% of all XR revenues.
Read more on the SuperData Research report.
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