Meta Quest Pass — a rumored subscription service could come to Quest 2

The Meta Quest 2 is lacking a feature that is borderline essential for most game consoles — a subscription service. Subscription models are commonplace, but the best VR headsets currently lack one. Even the PSVR 2 doesn’t get any benefits from PlayStation Plus.

But that could be changing. According to Twitter user Shiny Quagsire, Meta has hidden a “Quest Pass” codenamed Project Apollo deep within the recesses of the Meta Quest android app. This landing page is hidden through the URI (uniform resource identifier) link "oculus://view/platform_subscription" according to Shiny Quagsire. I tried finding this page in the Meta Quest app on my own Android phone but was unable to access the secret landing page.

Not that it would have suddenly given me free games if I had. While Shiny Quagsire was able to find a page for a Quest Pass subscription platform, the page didn’t actually allow them to sign up for the subscription. To be fair, this makes sense; given the name “Project Apollo” is in brackets. If it is real, it's still likely an internal codename. 

There has been no official confirmation or hint at a game subscription service from Meta for the Quest platform, so take this rumor with a grain of salt. But it would be really cool to see Meta launch a subscription service of some kind given that many of the best VR games are on the platform, even the majority of the games on the PSVR 2. 

When combined with the rumored much-improved Meta Quest 3, this could be a killer combination that makes the Quest platform even more appealing. Personally though, unless Meta wants to seriously invest in developing VR games, or plans to sell the Quest 3 at a price that returns a profit on each headset, it seems unlikely that this would be a profitable move. In fact, the company is currently hemorrhaging money to make its VR/AR roadmap a reality. 

Meta Quest Pass: Rumored perks 

According to the screenshot of the Quest Pass page, the big perk of signing up would be two new apps or games every month, very similar to Xbox Live’s Games with Gold perk and PlayStation Plus’s free monthly games. Aside from that, there doesn’t seem to be much else on offer — though for the right price, it could still be worth it.

And while we don’t know if Quest Pass is ever coming, one thing we do know though is that Game Pass is coming to Meta Quest — supposedly. At Meta Connect 2022, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg promised that Xbox Cloud Gaming would allow the Meta Quest Pro to put an Xbox on your face. We are still awaiting a launch date for the app on the Meta Quest store, so stay tuned for future updates.

More from Tom's Guide

• Meta Quest 2, Quest Pro get huge price drops as Meta eyes Apple VR.
• Meta Quest 3 massive leak says it will be two times thinner, twice as powerful but also cost more.
• 7 Meta Quest 2 games you should play first.