Quest is Outselling Nintendo Switch 2 on Amazon (and every other game console)

By
Ben Lang
-
70

Despite being released more than a year ago, Meta’s Quest 3-series headsets are outselling Nintendo’s new Switch 2 console on Amazon, which was released just this Summer.

The News

In the last 30 days (which includes the whole of the Black Friday shopping week), Quest 3 and Quest 3S models have collectively sold 154,000 units on Amazon US. That puts the headsets just ahead of Nintendo’s newest console, Switch 2, which has sold 150,000 units on Amazon US over the last 30 days, and was released in June. The other major consoles (PlayStation 5 / 5 Pro and Xbox Series X / S) which are now much older, have sold less than Quest or Switch 2.

And in Amazon’s ‘Best Sellers’ list in the Video Games category, Meta’s best selling individual headset, Quest 3S (128GB), is just ahead of Nintendo’s most popular Switch 2 bundle, at number #6 and #7 respectively.

Meanwhile, PlayStation 5 is seen at #13, Quest 3 (512GB) at #24, and Xbox Series X at #60 on the ‘Best Sellers’ list.

On one hand, it shouldn’t be entirely surprising to see Meta’s cheapest headset Quest 3S (128GB) with its $250 holiday sale price beating out Switch 2’s $400 MSRP. But on the other hand, those constantly bemoaning the “death of VR” would have you believe that Quest 3S sales volume wouldn’t even be in the same ballpark as a Nintendo console.

SEE ALSO
Valve's Next VR Headset Reportedly Enters Mass Production, Targeting 500K Units This Year

Interestingly, the latest generation of Quest headsets appear to be slightly down in sales volume on Amazon US compared to the prior year. It’s possible we’ll see a late spike, but in years past, Quest sales volume has just about peaked by December 23rd.

My Take

Despite Quest’s impressive and quite seasonal sales volume, there’s no doubt that the headsets have struggled with retention. Meta has sold its headsets at exceptionally low price points over the years, which has helped move units out the door. But even though there is thought to be tens of millions of Quest headsets out in the wild, the number of active pales in comparison to the major game consoles. Without strong retention and the ability to make back profit on the software side, the subsidized headset strategy has contributed to the major loses that Meta’s Reality Labs division has sustained since its inception.

Meta made moves earlier this year to raise the bar on software and UX design for its wearable devices, which will hopefully improve future retention. But those moves are also rumored to lead to a price hike on the company’s headsets, which is likely to tamp back the impressive sales volume that Quest has seen over the years.

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Ben Lang
Ben is the world's most senior professional analyst solely dedicated to the XR industry, having founded Road to VR in 2011—a year before the Oculus Kickstarter sparked a resurgence that led to the modern XR landscape. He has authored more than 3,000 articles chronicling the evolution of the XR industry over more than a decade. With that unique perspective, Ben has been consistently recognized as one of the most influential voices in XR, giving keynotes and joining panel and podcast discussions at key industry events. He is a self-described "journalist and analyst, not evangelist."
  • NL_VR

    no wonder, even the simpliest VR games are better. Consoles sucks and Nintendo Switch sucks :D

    • Edward V. Gutierrez
      • NL_VR

        cry som more its the truth :P

        • Edward V. Gutierrez

          Sure. Keep telling yourself that. Let us know when you gone back to reality.

          • NL_VR

            The only one that need to come back to reality is you and understand that people like different things :D

          • Edward V. Gutierrez

            You’re just an idiot aren’t you? Your blocked.

          • Leisure Suit Barry

            So PSVR2 sucks because it's linked to a console?

          • NL_VR

            Nope, PSVR2 is a vr headset that nowadaysyou also can run on PC. in this case its the other way around.
            PS5 suck because PSVR2 is the only vr-headset you can run on it.

        • Your opinion =/= truth. Learn the difference between subjective and objective.

          • NL_VR

            Sorry for english not forst language.
            all I write is my opinion.
            you are welcome to have yours, i dont get hurt by that, as some others here do

    • Maximillian

      How childish and juvenile.

      There is absolutely NOTHING wrong with console gaming period.

      Grow up.

      • NL_VR

        its a personal opinion and thats what i think, just accept it. Console today is nothing like what it once was. Closed bad eco system. no usp except for "its not a computer" which i can say i understand but then all the other things that is bad come with it. Can i play my Nintendo games on Switch just like that? no i have to pay a subscription again if i dont have the actual hardware.
        On PC i can play all my old nintendo games decades back.

        • Christian Schildwaechter

          Short introduction to the English language:

          "I think", "I believe", "IMHO": stating a personal opinion

          "even the simplest VR games are better", "XYZ sucks": generalization stating something is true for pretty much everybody, not only applicable to one person or depending on their personal view.

          First making very broad statements as if they were universal truths, and then claiming that all you did was expressing your personal opinion is either a misconception how English works, or plain and simple rage baiting. I'm pretty sure that you would be capable of making people understand you are just posting an opinion, so my money is on the intentional rage bait.

          • NL_VR

            Ok i apology but in my native language we dont use so many words to describe what we mean its more how we say it which doesnt translate well to writing. Sometimes i forget to add these extra words to exactly describe what i mean.
            Maybe i behave weong but i think people should understand tgat internet is worldwide and not only English speking.
            People dont have to gonrage on all cylinders the first response

        • Jistuce

          You actually CAN play all your pirated copies of forty-year-old games on a Switch, it just requires doing things Nintendo doesn't like very much.

          • NL_VR

            Yes I know, or i just download emudeck on my steam deck and everything gets integrated like it was native :)

        • philingreat

          Not the case with the Steam Deck

          • NL_VR

            WWhat do you mean?
            steam deck is a great device

    • Rayza

      Every single comment from you is dumber than the last.

      • NL_VR

        Sorry i forgot to tell you thats what i think.
        No need to get upset, it makes you look dumb.

    • Leisure Suit Barry

      90% of VR games are ass, they aren't even proper games and shallow as hell

      Most people prefer deep games with actual scope and they are few and far between in VR, so this is why people play flat games

      • NL_VR

        Well more or less of all flatgames 90% are also ass.
        Idk what you mean by games with actual scope but the differelce is juat there are fewer VR games than flatgames.
        The ratio how many that is bad and good are pretty much the same. It differs what type of games you like.

        • Herbert Werters

          That may be true in percentage terms, but the problem is the number of options available to users to find something interesting. We shouldn't forget that when we talk about things like this.

          • NL_VR

            yes as i said the difference is that its just a smaller number of games. People who say VR games are ass arent VR-gamers and VR-games arent for those people.
            Maybe go look for mods or just play flatgames instead. Personally there even are so many VR-games i dont have time to play them all.

  • Dragon Marble

    That's impressive.

    Why is PSVR2 nowhere to be found on that list? It's not selling at Quest 3 level, but at least comparable to the console itself.

    • Leisure Suit Barry

      I bought a PSVR2 last week, but I know what I bought into. £294 Horizon Call of the Mountain bundle and bought about 30 games most £5-£10. No way was it ever worth £570 (which is $771). Sony was out of their mind

      We all know PSVR2 was DOA due to the price, it's selling worse than PSVR1

  • Rogue Transfer

    Until you look at the wider picture. For example, in Amazon UK, the Switch 2 has sold 18K+ over the last month, compared to just 6.5K+ of the Quest 3S+3.

    The Quest seems really US-centric in terms of sales numbers, typically. They haven't really managed to be as successful as other consoles elsewhere.

    It'd be interesting to investigate all of Amazon country-specific sites to find out the worldwide pattern.

    • NL_VR

      Europeans seems more attached with their a**es to the chairs and aofas than the americans and asians that for sure.
      a more conservative people when it comes to tech, which is also the common pattern as europe as a whole has not much to contribute to end consumer tech products

      • Christian Schildwaechter

        Europe has always been PC gaming country, and during the 80's home computer country, while the US and Japan have always been console heavy. So Quest as a VR console selling worse in Europe than in the US is just continuing the trend. But the more important factor will be Meta focusing mainly on the US market, with most of the marketing there, a number of Quest features like Meta AI only available in Northern America, and (temporary) price reductions driving sales often limited to the US too.

        Both European users and law makers are also very keen about data privacy, making Meta not particularly popular in general. The only Meta product Europeans really like to use is WhatsApp. They are generally more open system/open source friendly, partly due to the European patent law not allowing for extremely broad nonsense software patents, causing projects like VLC to be hosted within the EU to protect them from gazillions of US patent holders. Closed platforms are much more frowned upon, leading to iOS only holding about 38% of the mobile market in the EU compared to 60% in the US.

        And regarding asses attached to chairs and sofas and a general lack of movement: The average US BMI is 29.1 men/29.6 women. The average EU BMI is 25.5 men/24.5 women

        • NL_VR

          i understand and agree with you completly.
          But europe is way after when it comes to end consumer tech. They had a chance to be number 1 but they didnt dare back in the late 90ies and millenial shift because the crash.

          • Christian Schildwaechter

            Europe has a very different business culture. There are companies here that have lasted for literally hundreds of years, and there is a much bigger focus on small and medium sized businesses. And the owners are expected to keep their companies alive and their employees employed, and bankruptcy is frowned upon and seen failure. Plus there are a lot of consumer and environmental protection laws that limit the level of try-and-error possible.

            While this has a number of positive, stabilizing consequences, it also meant that there was much less of a startup scene in Europe, and the startups were less driven by venture capital asking for fast profits, and more by conservative banks. This has changed somewhat during the last few decades, but it is much harder to get a high risk venture going in Europe, and even if you manage, it is much harder to sell that high risk business to a larger company. There are now a lot of smaller, often software centered startups, and their exist strategy is often to be bought by a US companies like Meta or Apple.

            Europe had/has a couple of consumer electronics giants like Philips, co-inventor o the CD and endless amounts of home appliances, or Nokia producing the only phones that will not crack when dropped, but instead damage the floor. But the huge amounts of money required for a large global consumer electronics launch aren't that easy to come buy in Europe.

            Even in China with some crazy financial bubbles like their housing sector risking (and losing) trillions, it took ByteDance/TikTok with a giant social network drafted after US tech companies with "move fast and break things" and "it's easier to ask for forgiveness than for permission" attitudes, to even consider trying to launch Pico 4 globally, and then quickly retract. A company like OpenAI would never fly in Europe, as a) they would never get that amount money based on a promise without any already proven business case), b) would have been struck down just for there data collection and lacking user privacy guarantees, c) would have met massive opposition from local population when trying to build resource hungry data centers anywhere, d) would have gone broke from the energy bill alone, and e) would be under massive supervision by regulatory entities just for all the kind of circle deals they do with companies like Nvidia, with Nvidia investing into Open AI to buy more Nvidia hardware, inflating both companies value.

            So yes, Europe is much more risk aware, and puts a lot more obstacles in the ways of those that want to take huge risks. This is partly a cultural, partly a historical thing and partly very conscious policy. It means the next iPhone probably won't come out of Europe, but it is not all that bad. The currently most important EU consumer electronics exports are probably safety, user privacy, user rights and environmental rules, which technically only apply to the 550M EU citizens and companies selling to them, but in a globalized world then often are applied to everything, because it makes no economic sense to build products to lower standards for other countries.

        • XRC

          We had a big home computing scene here in the UK with the ZX Spectrum, Commodore C64, BBC micro and later the Amiga and Atari ST. Consoles weren't as popular until much later, they were relatively expensive especially the games cartridges.

          It birthed a big development scene in the UK with many early software houses established during 8 bit era, and many magazines based around popular home computers.

          I spent many hours typing basic programmes into my Spectrum, thanks to games listings from the magazines, who would often publish the bug fixes in the next edition!

          Amazing times, long tape loading with sometimes tricky azimuth adjustments were part of the charm.

          • Christian Schildwaechter

            The BBC micro with its really exemplary concept of democratizing computing skills still lives on with the Raspberry Pi, another UK product, that silently took a specific part of the world by storm. By unit numbers, Raspberry Pis are the still most numerous computers in my household.

            And in similar ways the Arduino's out of Italy drove the world of electronics tinkering forwards. Neither will ever become an electronics giant, as their open business policy neither allows nor aims for that. Which on the one hand nice, as it puts consumer needs first, but on the other hand limits their options, with financially struggling Arduino recently sold to Qualcomm, which then immediately changed some of the licenses to be less open.

          • max

            Your arguments don't really track here. We're comparing the Switch 2 to the Quest 3. One is a fully locked down portable Nintendo console, and one is a dual purpose device with somewhat locked down standalone mode (not hard to jailbreak/run homebrew apps/app stores) and is fully usable as a PC peripheral as well. So why does the UK being historically more PC centric lead to the Switch doing better?

      • cleaverboy

        I apology for the typical ignorant american. We have a lot of those those here.

      • Jeremy Hodder

        Tell us all you've never stepped foot in europe without saying it why doncha

        • NL_VR

          i live in europe :D

        • "A closed mouth gathers no foot."

    • Exactly this is to be taken in count. It's good news that Quest is selling well in the US, but outside US things are not going so well

  • ApocalypseShadow

    Put it in perspective. I like Quest 3. But get back to me when it sells 100 million like PlayStation and Nintendo consoles.

    • NL_VR

      Its a news article on a VR site how Quest 3 sells more than console at a given period.
      Console fanboys rush in claiming its "pushing a narrative". LoL

      • Christian Schildwaechter

        Its a news article on a VR site how Quest 3 sells more than console at a given period.

        It's about the Quest 3 family currently selling more than other consoles on Amazon US, which means mostly Quest 3S that in the past outsold Quest 3 by something like 4:1.

        Enthusiasts always point to the Quest 3 as what Meta typically sells, esp. when comparing to other HMDs like AVP or Frame. But in reality Quest 3 is a much more niche device, as the vast majority of the Quest market is much more budget sensitive and prefers the Quest 3S with Quest 2 Fresnel optics plus XR2 Gen 2 over Meta's high clarity pancake lenses enthusiasts model. There is no way Quest 3 alone would outsell any other console.

        • NL_VR

          Yes i know quest 3s probably sell more its chepaer

      • ApocalypseShadow

        It's called common sense. You want to believe the nonsense, go right ahead.

        • NL_VR

          What are you referring common sense ?

          • ApocalypseShadow

            Common sense that Sony's and Nintendo's systems vastly outsell Quest. No Amazon narrative will change that. PS5 is at 85 million or so. What's Quest 3 sales? Thought so. There isn't any numbers to even try to compare. If PS5 has been out for 5 years, then Quest, at usually a lower cost, should be at 40 million with half the time on the market. It isn't.

            Both shouldn't even be compared. Might as well compare Blu-ray player sales or Honda Civics. It's totally ridiculous and different markets.

          • NL_VR

            Yes? But it has nothing to do with common sense or what the article is about.
            You totally misunderstood it if you think its something to “spread a narrative”.

          • simon cox

            you ok hun?

    • Jistuce

      PS1 did not do 100 million right out the gate. That was a lifetime sales number over a decade, and if we want to be totally honest it includes a good number of double-purchases due to the early units being prone to overheating and also drive failure.

      The GameBoy number's even worse, as it's an aggregate of original and GBColor sales.

      • Christian Schildwaechter

        The better example is the PS2, which sold 160M, 10M of which in the first 15 months. And after only five years and nine months, it had passed 100M. The Nintendo DS was faster, hitting that mark in only four years and five months, so slightly more than the Quest 2's four year lifespan from its 2020-10 launch to Meta officially discontinuing it in 2023-09, but with DS selling about eight times as many overall.

        In the end Sony sold ~6M/~4% more PS2 than Nintendo sold DS. PS2 and DS sales include the slim/lite variants, but these are basically the same tech in another form factor, not completely different generations like GB/GB color.

        Part of the PS2's success was that at launch it was also the cheapest available DVD player by far. It lived a lot longer in places like Brazil, where very high import taxes made new electronics extremely expensive, and where it was still the third most popular console by 2020, the same year PS5 released, 20 years after its own launch.

        • ApocalypseShadow

          The point was that Sony's first console and Nintendo's first portable sold over 100 million. Something Facebook has not done with any of their devices. Fun to play or not.

          He couldn't counter the argument so he pulled up fanboy nonsense when it's just facts.

          • Christian Schildwaechter

            TL;DR: minor details won't change that other consoles are way more successful, but looking at the exact circumstances makes sense nonetheless.

            I got that you were pointing out the overall huge distance in unit numbers, not some specific numbers or technical details. But even though none of his questions really changes that flat consoles vastly outsell anything Meta has ever offered, they are still valid. Everybody posting here counts as a VR enthusiasts, and regardless of whether one thinks the convenience of standalones is the way to go, or the power of a PC is necessary for the full VR experience, we are all still trying to figure out why so few gamers go for the much more immersive VR.

            So "what if" questions are important. Me marking PS2/DS as "better" examples was not because the PS1 or GB didn't already outclass Quest, but because they answer some of the "what ifs". Would Nintendo have sold 100M even if their handheld has a lifespan as short as Quest 2? They did with the DS. Were PS1 sales inflated by lots of replacement units due to shoddy quality? PS2 sold more despite being built like a tank and running for decades.

            It will always be somewhat apples vs oranges, but comparisons need context. I'm still annoyed with Meta killing the Go after just two years, then preventing devs from even updating existing apps, and finally removing the Quest 1's Go backwards compatibility on Quest 2. Those using Go mostly for watching movies were even more pissed, as Quest 1 was heavier, more expensive and unusable while lying down, so not a replacement at all. I still bought more Meta HMDs (which all should be able to play my 150+ Go library), but how many others went "screw Meta" instead? Meta having continued Go could have driven up unit numbers a lot, support and lifespan significantly impact unit sales, so asking for them makes sense.

            And while HMDs cannot touch consoles, the 20M or on average 5M/year Quest 2 sold were very impressive, given that only 2%/~3M of all Steam users connect an HMD, or only 5%/6M of all PS4 owners bought PSVR1. In theory Quest 2 could have climbed much higher if Meta managed to reduce cost and had continued to sell it at an even lower price, which in the past was what most consoles did.

            They might also have sold more if they hadn't increased the price by a whopping 33% once their cheap pre-pandemic component contracts ran out, tanking sales in the process. Or they might have sold a lot less, if PS5 and Xbox Series S hadn't been sold out everywhere during the early pandemic, with scalpers demanding ridiculous prices, causing many parents to reach for the much cheaper, never sold out Quest 2 as a backup.

            My guess is that after years of hardware and software advances, the main issue is still lacking comfort and high friction. So even if Meta would have extended the lifetime and lowered prices, they still couldn't have touched the top selling consoles, and for various reasons I doubt that Quest 3/3S will reach anywhere the numbers of Quest 2. Palmer Luckey famously wrote an article titled "Free isn't cheap enough" based on early Oculus market research showing that people didn't want to use a Rift even if they got it for free, hinting that just reducing prices wouldn't help. But we all would benefit from VR becoming more popular, and asking why and under which exact circumstances flat consoles do so much better may help with somewhat closing the gap.

          • Quest hasn't even existed for a decade, so why are you trying to compare it to something that's been out for literally 30 years? Your math ain't mathin'.

          • ApocalypseShadow

            You're just making excuses. Each headset has been much cheaper than these consoles except for Nintendo's Gameboy. And been out for a long time. You don't even know the sales of any of them. But we know the financial losses that Facebook has taken to try and control the stand alone market

            There shouldn't even be a comparison with this ridiculous article about Amazon sales. Amazon isn't the barometer of overall sales.

            Your comment ain't "commentin."

          • Jistuce

            It's a weird point is all, and it was Nintendo's first TWO portable systems. GameBoy and GameBoy Color are not the same thing.

            But "Quest 3's sales to date are less than lifetime sales of one of the best-selling platforms of all time despite existing in a much different market, therefore it has bombed hard" is weird. Really weird.

      • ApocalypseShadow

        Sony's FIRST console sold over 100 million. Nintendo's FIRST actual portable Gameboy sold over 100 million.

        Get a clue.

        • And PS1 came out in 1995 — THIRTY YEARS AGO. Quest has been out for 6 years. You may come back with this argument in 24 years. Until then, make relevant arguments.

          • ApocalypseShadow

            PS5 has been out for over 5 years and has been way more expensive. With competition from Nintendo and Microsoft. PS5 is currently over 85 million in sales. That's current. Still got excuses?

            What's the sales numbers of Quest 3? It doesn't have competition. Even with Pico on the market. Probably not even 10-15 million. Quest 2 supposedly sold over 20 million. But the reality was that it didn't have that in player engagement. Even employees were pushed to buy it for exercise which propped up numbers.

            These devices shouldn't even be compared and this Amazon nonsense shouldn't be used as a way to say it's selling better when overall, it's not. Nintendo will vastly outsell it as well as Sony. Don't cry about it. Just see the truth in it.

          • Wow, you really have your dick lodged in that console don't you? Touch grass, nerd.

  • ErickTheDiver

    We really need more high quality games for VR!

  • Christian Schildwaechter

    But on the other hand, those constantly bemoaning the “death of VR” would have you believe that Quest 3S sales volume wouldn’t even be in the same ballpark as a Nintendo console.

    And they aren't, at least not when also looking beyond Amazon US. The Switch 2 released in June 2025, sold 3.5M units in the first four days, and more than 10M within six months. Sales projections for Switch 2 by end 2025 are 13M-15M, with Nintendo estimating 19M sold within the first 10 months (the end of their fiscal year).

    Quest 2 is estimated to have sold 20M units over four years, and sold better than Quest 3/3S. It is at least somewhat doubtful that the Quest 3 sold 3.5M units since its release two years ago, and going by the Meta fourth quarter revenue, the USD 299 Quest 3S sold worse during its launch holiday seasons than the Quest 2 a year before at USD 249 during its third holiday season (meaning the 2023 revenue divided by USD 299 resulted in a lower unit number than the 2022 revenue divided by UD 249).

    I do not doubt that Quest is selling better on Amazon US, and we don't have a lot of available sources to go by in general. But consoles like PS5 or Switch are still heavily sold through retailers like Best Buy or Target, and we know that Switch 2 is selling a lot better than Quest overall, and the PS5 is quickly approaching 90M consoles sold and still going strong, despite the Quest apparently currently selling more on Amazon. So all the "Quest is selling better on Amazon than X" news have to be take with a large grain of salt, as this most likely isn't representative for the overall market.

  • eadVrim

    VR has become a must-have for racing, flight, and space simulation games. For many players, including me, VR is now essential to continue enjoying video games

  • Herbert Werters

    Now Meta only needs the games that Nintendo and other consoles have. ;)

    So now we need another comparison that looks at the software sales figures for all consoles. So that we can discuss the really important economic issues here.

  • Paolo Minisini

    Amazon Italy:

    7th: PS5 digital ver.
    27th: Quest 3S
    32th: Switch 2

  • Nevets

    This will stop when the prices go up.

  • You are really tolling hard, aren't you? Get out of the basement and touch grass, for the sake of your parents sanity.

    • NL_VR

      No i just rnjoying people shit in their pants because people think different.
      i dont live in an basement i own a house and live a goodnlife with joy and no stress. Enjoying games warching plebs on the internet arguing ;D

  • You sound like you have an IQ of 43.

  • Lucidfeuer

    Uh? So the Quest is a big holiday seller, unlike the Switch 2 which had relatively catastrophic numbers for a launch year holiday. Interesting.

  • Jayjay1

    Awesome News!