There’s been so much hype regarding the Oculus Rift, that everyone seemed to disregard how much the VR headset would actually cost. $600 (£412) that’s how much it’ll will set you back, we can bet that you’re probably having second thoughts on getting it now.
Founder and designer Palmer Luckey had mentioned that they we’re aiming to sell the Oculus Rift in 'the ballpark' of $350 (£240). It's probably the biggest f****** since Sony's infamous price reveal for the initial launch of the PlayStation 3 back in '06.
To Palmer’s credit he did stepped up and addressed the pricing issue on a Reddit AMA. In basically what is a longed winded explanation and apology(?) he lists of a series of techno-babble/hardware excuses as his reasons for the extremely high-price. You can read his full statement below:
"I handled the messaging poorly. Earlier last year, we started officially messaging that the Rift+Recommended spec PC would cost roughly $1500. That was around the time we committed to the path of prioritizing quality over cost, trying to make the best VR headset possible with current technology. Many outlets picked the story up as “Rift will cost $1500!”, which was honestly a good thing - the vast majority of consumers (and even gamers!) don’t have a PC anywhere close to the rec. spec, and many people were confused enough to think the Rift was a standalone device. For that vast majority of people, $1500 is the all-in cost of owning Rift. The biggest portion of their cost is the PC, not the Rift itself.
Basically he’s saying whoops I didn’t mean to get your hopes up. Sorry kids looks like mum and dad won’t be getting you the Oculus Rift on release date.
Just in case you wanted to get angry about how good it looks
So if you’re feeling rich, or you just like to burn money like this guy – or flush it down the toilet like Adrian Broner, the Oculus rift is available for you to pre-order now.
[Via Kotaku]
