Oculus Rift ballpark invites comparisons to other VR headsets
Oculus founder Palmer Lucky has outlined a ballpark figure for 2016's Oculus Rift headset, and it looks to be in line with Sony's PlayStation VR.
"We're roughly in that [$350] ballpark," he said in conversation with Road to VR, though sent out a heads-up that, actually, "it's going to cost more than that."
"It's not a matter of ‘oh we're selling more, we can make more money!'" he explained, "it's just the reality that when you make this thing you have to decide what tradeoffs you're going to make."
"We need to put a stake in the ground and say: this is the best possible experience that we were able to make. No compromises were made in terms of quality."
Custom lenses, VR-optimized Samsung displays, and a state of the art head-tracking system are some of the things that Oculus decided it could not back down on.
"With the Rift, it makes sense to do what nobody else is doing, which is invest in making the best possible quality headset."
Though pricier than the Rift's initial Development Kits, a $350+ or $399 estimate doesn't necessarily price it out of a growing market.
In fact, the Rift sounds like it will price up awfully close to the PlayStation VR. Sony's Andrew House said the PSVR would be priced "as a new gaming platform" and, for reference, the PlayStation 4 launched at $399.
Meanwhile, as Facebook's Oculus has been working with Samsung for the Rift, Samsung has its own thing -- Gear VR -- prepared for November 2015.
A Galaxy S6, Edge or Edge+, or Note 5 slots into the headmounted caddy to provide power and visuals, so Gear VR comes in at a more impulse-friendly $99 price. LG and Carl Zeiss have similar products; Google Cardboard is the budget equivalent.
Moving nearer to Rift territory, we come to the self-assembly OSVR -- Open Source Virtual Reality -- from hardware and accessories firm Razer. Dev kits start at $199 or $299, with a load of optional extras.
Competing more immediately with Oculus and PlayStation VR is the Vive, a collaboration between smartphone manufacturer HTC and PC gaming giant Valve.
It's gauged as being even more high-end than the Oculus and expected to fetch a higher price accordingly: it's designed not just as a seated experience but also for use within a 15-foot space.
Despite the lack of public pricing, $400+ is a safe bet given the tech involved.
Teardowns will soon commence, as the Vive is pegged for a limited November 2015 release before more general availability in 2016.
