Xbox-themed Quest 3S has been spotted ready for release and if you close your eyes and imagine what an Xbox-themed Quest 3S looks like, bingo

In April of last year, Meta announced it would be working alongside Microsoft to make an Xbox-themed Meta Quest. As we noted at the time, we said the collaboration "probably means it's black with a bit of green." Well, you can imagine how shocked the PC Gamer office was this morning when we saw a leak of the upcoming Xbox Meta Quest 3S box, complete with a headset that is black with a bit of green.

As reported by UploadVR, according to a now-deleted thread from VR developer RJ White, the photo of the Meta Quest 3S Xbox edition comes from a Best Buy employee who presumably found it in stock at their store.

This all follows a rumour from Game Sandwich claiming the headset would be surprise launching at some point this week.

Game Sandwich also claims that the Xbox Meta Quest 3S would be launching at $399. This is $100 more than the 128 GB model of the original Quest 3S, and it comes with the same base storage. It is still $100 cheaper than the standard Meta Quest 3, though the Quest 3 comes with better lenses and storage. However, in return for the extra $100 for the Xbox Quest 3D, you not only get the black and green theming but also an Xbox controller and Xbox colored Elite Strap.

To top it off, this headset is reported to come with three months of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate. It is not clear if that is a general Xbox Game Pass code or one that can only be activated by first-time subscribers, like some Game Pass subscription codes. If you were to buy all of these separately, it would end up around $30 more than the reported cost of the Xbox Quest 3S, plus the cost of Xbox Game Pass. This does assume you actually want or need these accessories, though.

The intent with this collaboration is to encourage users to access Xbox Game Pass in order to stream their games to the headset, with the controller connected via Bluetooth. You will still be able to play VR games via the Meta Quest store, but this isn't Microsoft finally entering into the VR headset market. We likely won't see a VR Gears of War game anytime soon (despite my numerous emails).

This isn't the only move in the last few weeks for Microsoft to further divest its Xbox division away from Microsoft-made hardware. The Xbox ROG Ally X appears to effectively be a Windows handheld with some extra UI flourish and Xbox-branded controls.

Last November, Microsoft put out the 'This is an Xbox' campaign, where it showed Xbox games running on a breadth of devices like handheld PCs, phones, and laptops. Ever since, Xbox messaging seems to be moving further and further away from Xbox consoles.

Taking after the continued success of Windows, Microsoft seems ever more intent on putting its software on every device it can. Though this doesn't seem like a bad strategy for its software, I've had less and less faith in Xbox's hardware ever since getting my Xbox Series X in 2020.

Personally, I'd need quite a lot of convincing to pick up a Game Pass subscription for use in VR with its limited streaming library. This is especially true with GeForce Now right there, and just as easy to access.