Reality check: Oculus Rift still a 'pretty crazy deal,' says inventor
With its price more than many had bargained for, the inventor of Oculus Rift, a groundbreaking Virtual Reality headset, proposes that owners will get "a lot more than spending $599 on pretty much any other consumer electronics device."
Twenty-three-year-old virtual reality enthusiast Palmer Luckey founded Oculus VR in 2012, following a wave of interest in a very early version of the Oculus Rift.
A record-breaking crowdfunding campaign then put prototype editions -- Development Kits -- in the hands of around 7,000 backers.
With a Development Kit 2 then selling for $349, expectations were that 2016's Consumer Version would retail for around $399.
That expectation built on a September 2015 quote from Luckey himself -- "we're roughly in that [$350] ballpark, but it's going to cost more" -- but as he now explains, that was with a much higher figure in mind.
"Earlier last year, we started officially messaging that the Rift [plus a] recommended spec PC would cost roughly $1500," he told readers of a Reddit Ask Me Anything session. The $1.5k number was publicized "around the time we committed to the path of prioritizing quality over cost."
"Many outlets were repeating the 'Rift is $1500!' line," he said, recalling frustrations over "how many people thought that was the price of the headset."
But Luckey was not above admitting to a mistake. "My answer was ill-prepared," he conceded, "and mentally, I was contrasting $349 with $1500, not our internal estimate [of] close to $599."
Impressions that the consumer Rift would be similarly priced to Dev Kit 2, despite its "much less advanced technology," was one that "myself (and Oculus) did not do a good job of fixing," he said, apologizing -- though Luckey had dropped hints leading up to January 6th's pre-order reveal.
So why is the consumer Rift near double the price of Dev Kit 2?
It's all to do with off-the-shelf components being replaced by high-grade, custom tech: two custom OLED displays, very precise movement tracking, complex cutting-edge optics, and lightweight, durable and precise fitting systems were among factors cited.
Meanwhile, the cost of including headphones, an Xbox One game pad (which could be resold, it was suggested), and an Oculus Remote is "insignificant."
"To be perfectly clear, we don't make money on the Rift," he emphasized -- though presumably Oculus VR, Facebook's $2bn acquisition, doesn't lose a ton on it either.
Still, its value in comparison to $599 phones and TVs that "cost a fraction of that" to manufacture, said Luckey. "I assure you that you are getting a pretty crazy deal."
