Meta Unveils Quest 3S Xbox Edition for $400, Includes Controller & 3 Months of Cloud Gaming

Sure thing, let’s dive into this. So, Meta and Microsoft have done something kinda wild today by rolling out this Quest 3S Xbox Edition thing. It’s basically a bundle with all the gear for XR and Xbox cloud gaming. Honestly, this isn’t the Xbox VR savior people have been dreaming about. Nope, you can’t just slap it on your Xbox to play VR games. It’s more like a fancy, limited-edition paint job of the regular Quest 3S (128GB) dressed up in Xbox’s Carbon Black and Velocity Green. Yeah, it’s a tad more than just that, but you get the drift.

Now, brace yourselves, the price tag is $399.99. And what do you get in the box? Besides the headset, there are these Touch Plus controllers for VR and MR stuff, a limited-edition Xbox controller too, and a matching Elite Strap—which, may I say, isn’t the battery beefed-up version—and a three-month Xbox Game Pass Ultimate. Not a bad bundle if you’re doing the math, since piecing it all out would set you back around $490. That’s taking into account the Quest 3S 128GB with controllers ($299), Elite Strap ($69), Xbox controller ($64), and that Game Pass thing ($60).

But hey, if you’ve already snagged yourself a compatible Xbox controller and hold the Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, the special edition Quest 3S isn’t a must-have. Why? Because way back in late 2023, Microsoft and Meta threw Xbox cloud gaming onto Quest, including Quest 2 and onward, letting folks play over 400 cloud-backed games. Mind blown, right?

Oh, and here’s a twist—there’s a three-month ticket to ride with Meta’s Horizon+ game service in there too. Normally that’s $8 a month. Horizon+ has this stash of more than 30 Quest games like Asgard’s Wrath 2 (2023), Red Matter (2018), and Demeo (2021). Plus, you get two bonus games each month that you keep as long as you’re part of the Horizon+ club.

There’s a bit more to chew over—this whole deal was dropped on us last April at Connect 2024. But Meta’s not stopping there, whispering about other XR headsets they’ve got cooking up but are keeping under wraps for now.

They’ve even teamed up with ASUS Republic of Gamers and Lenovo to whip up totally fresh headsets running Horizon OS. ASUS’s version is supposedly performance-focused, while Lenovo aims for “productivity, learning, and entertainment.” Whatever that means.

If this bundle tickles your fancy, you’ll find it on meta.com, Best Buy in the US, or Argos and EE in the UK starting today. Quick tip: grab them fast because the companies are saying the supplies are “extremely limited.” When they’re gone, they’re gone—I mean, poof!