So, the Oculus rift is finally going to be commercially available.
They are now available for pre-order and will start shipping from March 28th onwards.
But… and here comes the sting… it is going to cost $599.
That is just too much.
And here in the Netherlands you’ll even be paying $750.
This does not even include their special controllers.
And that while Palmer Luckey himself only a few months ago answered a question by Road to VR about if the consumer Oculus Rift price would come in around that $350 ballpark target with;
You know, I’m going to be perfectly honest with you. We’re roughly in that ballpark… but it’s going to cost more than that.
Must be nice to live in a world where $599 is roughly in the same ballpark s $350.
Either way, it seems they are selling them, lots of them.
But as excited as I am about all the new tech that is coming, I am not willing (or able) to spend this much on a headset.
Especially as I’ll also need to buy a new computer to handle VR properly as it doesn’t even work on my MacBook.
So even though I’m grateful to Oculus for sort of kickstart the VR renaissance, I also think they messed up.
Not only because of the high price they are asking for it but also because I think they missed the boat.
All this has taken them so long, that the competition has been developing other headsets as well, cheaper ones.
The Oculus will not be as much a seller as it would/could have been at half the price.
I think this may even slow down the spread of VR.
If even someone like me, who is crazy about VR and wants a good headset so badly, thinks that the Oculus headset is too expensive and will just not buy one, imagine what the average gamer or potential VR user will think
And let’s not even think about .general gamers, museums, schools and regular folks will think about this ‘toy.
While they should have brought us a good but cheap Rift that everyone would have wanted to buy and thus make sure that VR headsets end up in as many households as possible.
Do they really think we all want or need those special headphones, a game, a remote and an x box controller?
Because we pay extra for those, maybe not much, but it adds up.
Did they really have to spend so much time to develop all these extra things and their special new controllers?
I personally think they should have sold a basic Rift before Christmas and then sell all that other stuff separately for those who want them.
Now they missed the holiday sales and ended up with a very expensive toy.
But Palmer explains;
I think and hope that the competition will now step up and offer us a good VR headset for at least half the price.
Oculus may have just ruined the opportunity of a life time.
I am secretly looking towards the people at Apple.
We know they have been acquiring quite a few VR related patents and are working on something…
And at least if they build a headset it will work on my Mac…
Will you be getting an Oculus Rift?
Photo copyright; Oculus.
Jo Yardley's Second Life 
My friend and I were eagerly counting down the clock to launch time. He had anticipated that it would be sold cheaply because of the FB backing, among other reasons, and suggested that it could potentially be as cheap as £199. I was more cautious in my approach, suggesting £275, but neither of us could have foreseen how expensive it was actually going to be, and for that reason alone I think they’ve missed the trick. Let’s not even get started on how the website melted, and my poor boyfriend is dying from frustration owing to his trying to purchase one (each time he adds to basket it fails). They had ample time to set this up and sell it at a reasonable price and they’ve obliterated half of their audience at launch, especially when you consider some of the comments on Reddit. A huge missed opportunity I fear, and it’s really taken all the shine off the whole VR experience for me.
(Plus I’ve got a VERY grumpy boyfriend as a result of this; even if he does manage to purchase one now it won’t arrive until May!)
=^..^=
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I was shocked as well. Everybody expected a price around 300 USD. I have no idea how they came up with that astronomical price. Did the land sales department of Linden Lab consult them??? I mean the hardware probably costs less than 30 USD in China. So it is all development costs and they can make that by selling big amounts at a lower price as well. I mean at this price only a very tiny amount of people will buy the Rift, that means it is not attractive for game developers to optimize their games for the Rift and why would then anybody buy it when there are almost no games or virtual worlds for it. But to be honest, since they have no Linux version, I would not be able to use it anyway and I didn’t want to buy a NSAbook product as well.
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I am an indie developer working on content for the Oculus, and though I am a little disappointed in the cost of the CR1, I’m not incredibly surprised. The desktop PC required to run it will cost you about $1000 too unless you already had a pretty serious gaming rig laying around.
Some might say that the Gear VR (and others based around Google Cardboard’s spec) can steal the thunder of the Oculus, I can say that I’ve been using my Gear VR (powered by Oculus) almost daily since I picked it up around Thanksgiving laster year. Though the hardware for the optics touch input runs you only $100, it has to be paired with a very small number of phones (Samsung S6 @ ~ $500 or Note5 @ ~$600) limiting the audience there as well.
All of this tells me, as a developer, that I can’t expect the millions of users in 2016 I was hoping for from one platform, I’ll have to build an experience for the GearVR, another for future Cardboard kits, and another for full Desktop VR (Oculus, HTC Vive, etc) to reach enough users of my apps to make a profit on my work.
Its frustrating for us developers too, but not a huge surprise. I expect that someone (either Facebook / Oculus or one of their rising competitors) will offer a much better priced product before the holiday buying season, so if you are willing to wait till end of year, we’ll likely see a better priced product that runs on more commodity PCs.
Something to consider on the side though is that, with the hardware cost being so high, I’d bet some entrepreneurs will be setting up “Oculus Arcades” around the world to rent time on the hardware until that price comes down.
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Yes absolutely.
But on the subject of having to buy a new computer, I must say that this is a much more acceptable spending of money as you can use a computer for a lot more than just gaming and as a gamer I sort of expect to have to buy a new computer every year or so if I want to keep playing the latest games.
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Every year or so? wow
I think most gamers “expect” to buy a new computer every 3 or 4 years
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I mostly agree with most of you up to this point. I’d already planned to build up a moderately-beefy Windows gaming system (haven’t run Win at home for over 5 years), and it would be allowed to do ONE thing: VR. No email, no online banking, nothing. Just VR SL, and HiFidelity. Plan was to order an Oculus Rift this week.
BUT… at $600, I’m hesitant. I just got a 3D projector, and SL is surprisingly good with the Epson’s 2D-to-3D conversion. Some things oddly jump to the foreground that shouldn’t, but walking around 1920s Berlin with the LCD shutter glasses on is pretty awesome, even if not as immersive as an HMD would be.
Still going to build the PC, about $1300. Will play with that a bit and decide later about HMD.
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As with all new tech, prices start high and come down over time. Competition should also drive the price down.
Whether competition can drive down the Oculus cost is a question. FB doesn’t need the money. Oculus is likely to be the HMD for medical and other business use. They may choose to stay with the high end market and pass on much of the gaming market.
I’ve already seen a training app in use by a union that uses HMD virtual reality to teach spray painting. So, uses are far more diverse than many of us may think.
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Yes folks, and I suspect Oculus is in vertical downward dive because…
– A lot of eager VR enthusiasts people like me bought the Dev1 and found it too complicated to set up (interfered with screen settings especially). I ended up selling it off cheaply, a loss.
– The prospective user base is consciously or subliminally resentful – they eagerly crowdfunded the Rift, then gaped embarrassed when Palmer Lucky got a breathtaking profit of $2 billion from FaceBook, and now, worse, suddenly is offering them the Rift for twice the expected price. ‘Talk about market blindness. Vertical dive with the afterburners on full. = )
– And, also dreadfully.. It’s not wireless, compared, say with the beautiful Microsoft Hololens see https://www.microsoft.com/microsoft-hololens/en-us (dunno if Hololens can/will work with SecondLife, which is my particular hope) I and many others hate cables and plugs. I loved the the Rift but now it looks like a clunky, ugly past-it technology, compared with many beautiful later options.
– Another example of competitors is the Magic Leap technology, see the experience the user gets, at http://www.magicleap.com/#/home
– Pardon my grimness – I’m just champing at the bit to have an easy device for SecondLife that copes well with any prescription of spectacles. I tried the Rift-alike Cardboard recently and it was useless too.
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Hey Bruce, a few quick comments:
1) All of the crowdfunders will be getting a Oculus consumer edition for free (https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1523379957/oculus-rift-step-into-the-game/posts/1458224?ref=backer_project_update)
2) The Hololens is $3000 just for the dev kit (http://www.techradar.com/us/reviews/wearables/microsoft-hololens-1281834/review)
3) I’m so excited and terrified by what MagicLeap can do (projecting images into our eyes) — but until I see a demo of the kit, I can’t really speak to how good its going to be. I also expect it to be in the > $1500 cost since it is an all in one device (it doesn’t require a PC or smartphone to do what it does).
I totally agree that wireless is a MUCH better option (I love my Gear VR for that reason alone) not just wireless from desktop, but wireless to be able to take it with me anywhere, having it replace my various monitors everywhere. That will eventually happen, but not for another 2 or 3 years.
As a side note, I also wear glasses (severely nearsighted) and I’ve seen multiple after market hacks for the Oculus dev kit which allows us to install prescription lenses into it, effectively “fixing” our eyesight when we are wearing the Rift. Though I don’t have a vendor to purchase these lenses from yet, I’m expecting them to pop up very soon.
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599 USD is 410 GPB plus 20% VAT on top of that, which is a grand total of 492 GBP just for the headset? As a casual user of Second Life I certainly won’t be buying one!
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599 USD is roughly 410 GBP plus 20% VAT on top you have a grand total of 492 GBP just for the headset? As a casual user of Second Life I certainly have no plans to buy one!
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I been experimenting with VR since the late 80’s, and have the DK1 & DK2. However, the price and market for VR doesn’t justify the current price, at this time. We can dev with DK2, and port it to any platform. Perhaps the price will come down, or competition will prevail. I’m an avid fan of VR and Oculus, but progress & technology doesn’t stop with brand loyalty.
I believe a home-brew solution could provide similar experiences using an external cpu & gfx card. I’m sure we’ll see creative solutions soon. This will be a great year for VR, but the market will soon diversify. Best Wishes!
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“I’ve been…” 🙂
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The jump from the dk1 to the dk2 was amazing I haven’t tried the ck1 yet but placed my order for it.Its early days and needs a modern pc to run it. My time using it I find magical, like being in a dream, its like being a kid again. I don’t care what anyone else thinks I really really enjoy it.
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The tech isn’t the problem, the headset experience IS amazing.
But the price…
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Its the same money as a phone which are also expensive, cheaper than the pc you would need to run it.They will come down in price a dk1 is now under$200 on ebay.Its nerd early adopter kit.See if Ebbie will adopt you 😀
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Same money as a phone?
I’ve never paid more than $30 for a phone.
And yes, of course, a pc is more expensive but you can use that for many other things and you need to replace those every couple of years anyway.
But yes, you’re right, they will eventually get cheaper.
I’m just disappointed that they didn’t manage to keep the price to what they mentioned just a few months ago and that now it will not be bought by lots and lots of people right away.
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I do plan on buying the Rift just as soon as it becomes available. And I built my own honking gaming PC last year so I’m ready. I’m disappointed in the price but I’ll stop eating to pay for it if I have to. 😀 I’m also guessing the price comes down by the end of the year but I’m not willing to wait.
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I -kindof- lost a little interest in the Rift when it became a Facebook, not ’cause I didn’t believe it might not benefit the Rift…but ’cause I was -kindof- iffy on Facebook’s business practices, and thought their involvement might actually hurt the product.
I’m -guessing- they’re honest about the costs of making the Rift, but I agree with those who think that price will scare off a lot of potential customers.
I’d personally be okay with 400 – 450’ish range, but…….in that I need to spend money upgrading my computer in the first place? I don’t think there’ll be any VR for me before December, if I’m still interested by then.
I’ll be upgrading either way as I want to make proper use of a new 4K monitor
🙂 Anyways, interesting post Jo
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Not getting one. Between the reasons you stated and the complete fumbling of the pre order process – I’m gonna put the money into my surround sound and maybe a few ps4 games.
Opportunity missed. Epic fail.
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For everyone that already has a ps4 and wants to wait for the PlayStation VR to ship, it will definitely be a good choice to wait. The only price I’ve heard from Sony is “About the same as a new console” for the cost of their kit — so I’m betting their kit will be between $400 -> $600 itself (depending on whether it ships with controllers or not). If you want to get into VR and the sticker price for the Oculus is a sticking point (and you don’t want to wait) check out the Gear VR as well.
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