Meta Quest 3S discounted to $297.49 for Amazon's October sale
The 128GB Meta Quest 3S is selling for $297.49, down from $349.99, at Amazon, Walmart and Best Buy through the end of Amazon's October sale, according to The Verge, which notes the headset shares the Quest 3's chipset but the Quest 2's lenses and display.
The same report lists the headset at $297.99 in its retailer links for all three stores, while the article text gives the price as $297.49. The Verge did not explain the difference between the two figures.
The Quest 3S is a battery-powered standalone headset with inside-out tracking, allowing it to be used without a PC in most locations. It runs the same chipset as the more expensive Quest 3, but uses the same lenses and screen resolution as the Quest 2, so its image is less sharp than the Quest 3's. According to The Verge, the lower price makes it a more reasonable option for casual VR gaming and movies, and represents a significant upgrade over the Quest 2.
Buyers receive three months of Horizon Plus, which The Verge describes as providing access to a large library of games. Purchases made through Amazon also include the "Cardboard Monkenaut" cosmetic set for Gorilla Tag VR and 2,000 "Shiny Rocks" that can be spent on other in-game items. Gorilla Tag is a free-to-play multiplayer title on Quest headsets in which players chase friends or matched players through trees in a game of tag.
The headset can play many titles from the Meta Store and can also be connected to a gaming PC to run VR games such as Half-Life Alyx. The Verge said it has published a review of the Quest 3S.