The Big VR Thread

[prettyunsmart]

Not sure if this is a placeholder, but $599 seems to be the price.

[Zeusthecat]

Not sure if this is a placeholder, but $599 seems to be the price.

 

Ouch. That is quite a bit more than what they originally alluded to.

[clyde]

Considering that I will still have to upgrade my motherboard, buy a new cpu, assumably a new copy of Windows, and Touch controllers.... I just don't know if I can jump in right now at $599

[prettyunsmart]

Considering that I will still have to upgrade my motherboard, buy a new cpu, assumably a new copy of Windows, and Touch controllers.... I just don't know if I can jump in right now at $599

 

Yeah, I feel the same way. I get that the tech is expensive, but I just can't justify it personally. I think a lot of people will probably feel the same way. It's a shame, since I've used the DK2 and I've seen what it can do. But at this price, and the price of the PC hardware needed to run it, I can't see the audience getting to be that large. 

[Dragonfliet]

That price hurts. I had girded myself for $400-500, but this is just... a lot. Considering that my GTX 780 is just barely good enough and will need to be replaced I'm pretty bummed to admit that I'm pretty much just giving up on this. Oh well. So sad. The price will come down a little eventually. 

[BusbyBerkeley]

Yeah, that prices it out of my range for sure. I'm assuming most people will be looking to upgrade their rigs around the same time which only adds to that price. I wonder if the vive will be around the same price. I know they had said they would be the more expensive option but maybe they were expecting $400-500 for the rift too?

That thing looks way more interesting than the rift at this point anyway. If I was going to buy in, I'd go all in.

[Dewar]

: (

 

As excited as I have been about this since all the way back to the Kickstarter, I can't justify putting down $600, plus a video card for this. I know it's petty, but the fact I could have gotten one for $300 had I backed the Kickstarter doesn't make it feel any better. i feel a little like my dreams for 2016 have been crushed.

 

Edit: Oh, and then to have to pay more for the Oculus Touch stuff later in the year.

[davej]

I wouldn't get too down heartened - this is a first production run on a brand new product. It was bound to be expensive.

 

This is just the start and, from what i've seen of the commercial prototypes from Oculus, this is going to be a great out-of-the-box experience for people. It'll only get better and cheaper, and pretty quickly.

[Zeusthecat]

 

As excited as I have been about this since all the way back to the Kickstarter, I can't justify putting down $600, plus a video card for this. I know it's petty, but the fact I could have gotten one for $300 had I backed the Kickstarter doesn't make it feel any better. i feel a little like my dreams for 2016 have been crushed.

 

Kind of how I feel at this point. I just finished ordering the last of my PC parts for my upgrade and would have instantly pre-ordered this if it was < $400. But I just can't justify dropping another $600 yet. If it gets a bunch of glowing reviews and has a decent ecosystem, I might reconsider but I'm holding off for now.

[eot]

I don't think it's unreasonable, they wanted to make it good enough to ensure that people don't have a bad experience with it. They have two 90 Hz OLED screens in that thing, that alone probably costs a ton. What they could've done better is communicate that this would be a very high-end consumer product. Like, what does it matter if you can run this on a 970? Anyone with that much money to throw at it probably has a 980 or more anyway.

 

I think it's the right decision though, a bad cheap product would hurt them more than a good expensive one that will eventually come down in price.

[clyde]

I'm glad my wife bought a GearVR compatible phone. My experiences with it have me looking forward to non-game content more than games in VR and it will be easier to wait for a price I'm willing to pay since I can enjoy the novelty of what is admittably a lesser VR experience.

[Zeusthecat]

I don't think it's unreasonable, they wanted to make it good enough to ensure that people don't have a bad experience with it. They have two 90 Hz OLED screens in that thing, that alone probably costs a ton. What they could've done better is communicate that this would be a very high-end consumer product. Like, what does it matter if you can run this on a 970? Anyone with that much money to throw at it probably has a 980 or more anyway.

 

I think it's the right decision though, a bad cheap product would hurt them more than a good expensive one that will eventually come down in price.

 

I think the main problem is that they have always strongly hinted at a much lower price point. I think my disappointment comes mostly from them not setting expectations appropriately.

[clyde]

I don't think it's unreasonable, they wanted to make it good enough to ensure that people don't have a bad experience with it. They have two 90 Hz OLED screens in that thing, that alone probably costs a ton. What they could've done better is communicate that this would be a very high-end consumer product. Like, what does it matter if you can run this on a 970? Anyone with that much money to throw at it probably has a 980 or more anyway.

I think it's the right decision though, a bad cheap product would hurt them more than a good expensive one that will eventually come down in price.

I bought a 970 in preparation for the Oculus Rift and I'm now planning on waiting.

I'm not speaking to whether or not it is a good or bad decision for them to price it as they have, I'm just saying that the price is too high for me to jump in immediately even though I've been planning to do so for the last 3 years.

[prettyunsmart]

I'm glad my wife bought a GearVR compatible phone. My experiences with it have me looking forward to non-game content more than games in VR and it will be easier to wait for a price I'm willing to pay since I can enjoy the novelty of what is admittably a lesser VR experience.

 

I think more than anything, I'd be interested in seeing a GearVR-like device that works smoothly with other phones. It probably won't happen since there are so many different devices of so many different sizes that you'd need to account for. But I can dream.

[Dewar]

I think the main problem is that they have always strongly hinted at a much lower price point. I think my disappointment comes mostly from them not setting expectations appropriately.

 

I don't know where the impression came from, but I always saw this as another gaming platform, with a price on the order of a PS4/X1/WiiU. I was expecting $400, hoping for $300. Maybe when I get my bonus in May (assuming I even get one this year) I'll be able to splurge on it. Maybe they'll release a pack that doesn't come with another X1 controler or EVE and get the price down to $500?

 

Also, I just noticed the shipping date, I thought they said this would be out in Q1?

[Zeusthecat]

I don't know where the impression came from, but I always saw this as another gaming platform, with a price on the order of a PS4/X1/WiiU. I was expecting $400, hoping for $300. Maybe when I get my bonus in May (assuming I even get one this year) I'll be able to splurge on it. Maybe they'll release a pack that doesn't come with another X1 controler or EVE and get the price down to $500?

 

I saw someone link these older articles, some of which I read previously. Palmer always sent a pretty clear message regarding what price point they were targeting. Again, I don't think it's necessarily an unfair price, they just did a shitty job managing expectations.

 

http://www.pcworld.com/article/2602906/final-oculus-rift-pricing-hardware-teased-as-gear-vr-reveals-oculus-ready-interface.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/18/technology/oculus-rift-headset-aims-for-affordable-virtual-reality.html?_r=0

http://www.tomshardware.com/news/Oculus-VR-Oculus-Rift-Subsidized-Free-Brandan-Iribe,23547.html

[prettyunsmart]

I saw someone link these older articles, some of which I read previously. Palmer always sent a pretty clear message regarding what price point they were targeting. Again, I don't think it's necessarily an unfair price, they just did a shitty job managing expectations.

 

http://www.pcworld.com/article/2602906/final-oculus-rift-pricing-hardware-teased-as-gear-vr-reveals-oculus-ready-interface.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/18/technology/oculus-rift-headset-aims-for-affordable-virtual-reality.html?_r=0

http://www.tomshardware.com/news/Oculus-VR-Oculus-Rift-Subsidized-Free-Brandan-Iribe,23547.html

 

And even more recently, Oculus representatives (possibly Palmer) were saying that the CV1 would be in the "ballpark" of the dev kits, which would put them in the $300-400 range. I'm on the same page with you, thinking that the price is probably fair, but that their messaging could have been clearer.

[eot]

I bought a 970 in preparation for the Oculus Rift and I'm now planning on waiting.

I'm not speaking to whether or not it is a good or bad decision for them to price it as they have, I'm just saying that the price is too high for me to jump in immediately even though I've been planning to do so for the last 3 years.

That stings. A 970 is probably the best GPU upgrade in years though so it's not all bad.

(Also, to clarify, I mean that anyone with enough money to buy the Rift probably has a 980 or more.)

[Dewar]

I wonder if waiting to announce the price until preorders were literally up and available was the right move, or if they might have had some of the 599 US Dollars press die down had they announced the price in November.

[Professor Video Games]

Considering everyone says VR is something you have to try before you "get it", I imagine their line of thinking is something like "get the product out there to people who are really passionate about it, build positive buzz and let the early adopters show the thing off to their friends, and then work like mad to get the price down later". The price is high but I'll bet their margins are pretty close to zero...FB has the deep pockets to subsidize this more if they want, right? I'm so curious to see their sales expectations and long term plans.

[Erkki]

I have to do a computer upgrade anyway in 2016, but yeah, now I'm imagining Vive with controllers will be around 800...

[Architecture]

If the Vive is more expensive than the Rift, then it will stop being messaged as Valve's VR headset and become HTC's VR headset.

[Dragonfliet]

I can only imagine the people at Valve and HTC were heartened by this announcement. After claiming they were going to be the more premium, in terms of price, I feel like the Oculus announcement (after MONTHS of them claiming in the ballpark of $350) might have given them a little breathing room to not be at a much-higher pricepoint. Hell, they may even have enough momentum to swoop in for a cheaper price.

[Lu]

740 euro's (total costs) if I were to buy it... So uh... I'll wait.  

[Griddlelol]

Considering I'm moving to a new country, where I'll probably be sharing a house...€300+ for a PSVR doesn't worry me too much, as long as all non-VR games are compatible with it. It beats a TV...