The price of the Oculus Rift virtual reality headset has been announced, with it set to cost $599 before tax in the US, and £499 with tax in the UK. Neither of those prices include shipping.
While this price is hardly surprising for those who have been following Oculus’ comments regarding the expense of the device, it’s certainly going to prove to be a major hurdle the technology must overcome if it wants to break into the mainstream. With it already requiring a relatively high-end PC in order to use it on its recommended settings, for many upgrading their PC and purchasing the headset would see them having to fork out over $1,000, which will more than likely mean that many won’t consider 2016 a financially viable time to jump onto the VR bandwagon.
The announcement was made as Oculus Rift pre-orders were finally opened, with the headset now available to pre-purchase on the Oculus website. The headset comes with two pack-in games, EVE: Valkyrie and Lucky’s Tale.
International Rift prices are not artificially bloated – we have to cover the required taxes, sales tax in USA works differently.
— Palmer Luckey (@PalmerLuckey) January 6, 2016
So what will this high cost of entry mean for the Oculus Rift, and virtual reality technology on the whole? Well, while it does ensure that the Oculus will only appeal to a niche market of people willing to spend $599 on what essentially amounts to an impressive peripheral, it also gives the Rift’s closest competitors some – the HTC Vive and PlayStation VR – some leg room. With the public reaction’s to the Oculus Rift’s price being highly negative following its announcement, HTC and Sony may choose to undercut Oculus with a lower price than they had previously planned, which can only be good news for consumer. Or the headsets will each release with similar price points, in which case it seems likely that the plan for VR to break the mainstream will continue to be a long way off.
The Oculus Rift will include a headset, sensor, Oculus Remote, cables, Xbox One Controller, EVE: Valkyrie, and Lucky’s Tale for those who pre-order it.
