Oculus Rift Pre-Order Details Emerge

The Oculus Rift pre-orders have gone live, and that has brought info about the Rift like a launch price of $599.

[Geobros]

"This price does not include tax and shipping."

Ouch....

[Dark11]

And some people thoughts the VR devices will be between $300 and $400 Lol

too expensive for a few games that will use it. not worth it.

[Eonjay]

Also, as if that wasn't enough it will release in April 2016 which is in fact Q2 2016 unless the whole time they meant a fiscal year.

[jujubee88]

Wait for other hmd's out there before painting in broad strokes.

[Volkama]

Am I the only one that's glad it isn't cheap? A good pair of headphones can cost upwards of £200. Hopefully VR headsets include good quality headphones, and that's without the more obvious tech on the display side of VR. For the whole to come in around £300 they would have to cut corners to say the least.

A bigger concern for the Rift is that the HTC Vive is making waves at CES 2016, has a very similar launch window planned, and has the direct backing of Valve who are a good partner to have in the VR gaming arms race...

[iNFAMOUZ1]

its not releasing in april, its releasing in march, it says so on my order statement

[samden]

Eonjay, I'm not sure where you are getting that it does not release until April but the pre-order page says shipping date is March 2016 which is Q1.

[Eonjay]

@samden

https://shop.oculus.com/en-...

[OpieWinston]

@Eonjay
FYI it WAS March but they said that based on pre order numbers you'd get it at a later date.

Now it's April... Probably later in the day it'll be May.

[donthate]

Wow!

Didn't expect the price tag to go that high. My estimate was $300-400, not $600.

Guess we will have to revise PS VR and HTC Vive upwards then, uh. I'm expecting PS VR to cost at least $400, but closer to $500, and HTC Vive to be around $500-600 too.

It is definitely not the year of VR that is for sure!

[UltraNova]

Cool! So you basically need to drop upwards of $2000 to be Occulus VR ready(Beefy PC +600 for the occulus )! Its a bargain I tell ya!

I hope Sony wont follow suit with such a...'reasonable price'for PSVR. I'm all for quality hardware but there's no chance in hell I'd drop 600 for VR. 400 MAX!

[Ult iMate]

@Volkama
They will not be able to achieve the massmarket with that price. That means no support from developers. All the VR-market was abandoned in late 90-s because of high headsets price.

[kickerz]

Wake up this morning to this news :( i just bought a high end PC for oculus now will have to shell out , most likely $700 Australian dollars for this. Ouch. Money does not grow on trees. Why can't they just release a stand alone model for $500 without the controller and games. Dang it. If htc vive is cheaper I may have to get that.

[Eagles83]

People thought that because Palmer Lucky had originally said he was going to keep the price as close to $300 as he could. This is double that.

I am fine paying a little more but I'm not going to pay $600. Primarily because I already have 4 Xbox One controllers and an Elite. I have no use for another one and don't care about either bundled game. If they drop the extras I would pay $450 but I'm out with all of the bundled crap.

[starchild]

I'm actually glad they are going all out and making a high quality VR experience, even if it has to cost more, rather than releasing a mediocre VR experience that could potentially sour people on the idea of VR. The prices will naturally come down with time.

We have to remember that these are early adopter prices. Over time the prices will come down even as the quality of the experience gets better and better.

If the hardware and overall experience is as strong as it seems to be, the excitement that comes from us early adopters will trickle down to the mainstream. VR will become this coveted thing that people want, whether they can currently afford it or not. Much the way OLED tvs are now. And people will jump in at the point they can afford it.

[kickerz]

Very well said Starchild . Agree with everything u said. Even though it's so expensive , I do want a quality experience . Price will slowly come down. New tech ain't cheap. Still will get one but will wait a few months first.

[masterfox]

PSVR will be 400 or less , if they go above that VR this year will destined to fail, Oculus with that price tag already lost.

[iloveallgames]

the page that eonjay posted lists the month you can expect to get it if you buy one now and since it is saying June at the moment when I looked at it with that date continuing to move into the future as stock gets eaten up, I'd say pricing isn't a problem either

[WalterWJR]

Ovulus just priced out all the non enthusiasts, they must have big confidence in this product.

[Takwin]

Agreed. These need to be $300-$350 to get families and most normal people in. As a teacher, I often chat with students about video games and their parents finally got them the current gen systems when they dropped to $300. 2/3 of them now have a current gen system and maybe 1/3 have two of them (usually PS4 and Wii U).

No way regular people will buy a headset that is the COST OF TWO WHOLE CONSOLES.

[-Foxtrot]

$599

http://i.imgur.com/MGCnu1V....

[bunt-custardly]

It comes to £529 total cost if ordering from the UK.

Got mine ordered but that price hit me too hard. Wasn't expecting it that high.

So those two "free" games are probably not free at all (factored into the launch price no doubt) and the Xbox One controller bundled in ups the cost quite a bit too.

Had it been just a standalone unit with no carry case, games and controller I wonder how low it would have been.

[bumnut]

Im in the UK too and am shocked at the price. DK2 was only $349 which is what i was expecting for the final version.

[darren_poolies]

Can you not buy it without the controller? Because if not that's really stupid. Not everyone wants a controller, it's just driving the price up.

[UnHoly_One]

I doubt that controller is adding very much to the cost.

MS cut a deal with them, it's not like they are spending 60 bucks to buy a controller at retail price.

I'm just guessing, I could be wrong, but I bet it is probably not making much if any difference.

[Relientk77]

Damn $600, that's a lot...

[ZeroX9876]

I was estimating $500 since the PC requirements for it a quite high, but $600 no shipping/no taxes?

also, Since my DS4 can handle the Xinput driver of the 360/one controller, can't we just get the rift without the X1 controller? sure hope so since it isn't my controller of choice at all, would even prefer KB/M over it!

after seeing that price, it'll be either Valve (Vive) or Sony's (PSVR) for me depending on the price.

Happy for all the PC gamers out there with high end gaming hardware since I'm sure they'll have a blast playing with it, but for most of us out there this is a deal breaker....

[joab777]

They say, "it's insanely cheap for what it is."

Wow! It may be but this Staten shows how out of touch they are, or it shows just who they are marketing too. Add in extra costs and the money needed to upgrade a rig, and many just can't do it.

Hey Sony, how bit a $599 PS4/VR bundle.lol!

[3-4-5]

* Double the price of a gaming console ?

"How about No Scott"

* Seriously though, VR is gong to be awesome.....liek 10 years from now, when it is $200 and has better graphics than a PS5.

[Pixelart]

The VR is a screen at its heart. It has nothing to do with graphics - that comes down to the game itself.. I mean really?

[MasterCornholio]

Pricy.

I thought it would be less.

[MonkeyOne]

In a world where a smartphone is $500-$600 the $600 price tag for a specialized VR gadget isn't all that bad.

[Sir_Simba]

not even close or even comparable in anyway.

[MasterCornholio]

A phone has utility though. A VR device is quite limited in comparison.

[Rookie_Monster]

Phone can get subsidized option with a 2 year contract. That is the big differnce

[Eonjay]

Well, there it is.
I got a flashback of Sony announcing the PS3 US price lol.

[-Foxtrot]

Least at the time it was a Blu Ray player...those things were going for even more then the PS3. A Blu ray player and a console in one. Pricey sure, but really a good deal looking back on it.

[Volkama]

Bookmarks -> Bookmark this page
Bookmark name: "Foxtrot happy about something"

[donthate]

It is a good deal for people wanting Blu-Ray, not so good deal for those expecting just a game console.

But yeah, the blu-ray capability is what drove the sales of the PS3, otherwise it wouldn't have fared as well. Then again, no Blu-Ray might have meant a lower price tag and more customers.

[badz149]

Kinda surprising they didn't asked people to go find a 2nd job to afford their tech!

[b1nary_B0SS]

I’m surprised that no one has lied about them asking people to go find a 2nd job to afford their tech!

[Taz X14]

Yeah... ummm... it's 849.99 Canadian before taxes and shipping... ummm... I had about $700 set aside for this but I may have to pass if it's going to run me more than $1000Cad for everything.

[OpieWinston]

Yeah.... Time to wait for HTC Vive and see what they charge.

Edit
@U4one.... I know. It just sucks being in Canada with the dollar in the toilet and it's this expensive. I put a lot of money into my Rig so might as well.

[u4one]

It's going to be a similar price. Estimated to be around $750 with the controllers. Around 500 for the base hmd. All proper HMDs are going to be similarly priced due to the fact that they all cost a similar price to build. At a hardware level they are all pretty similar excluding the mobile vr solutions which rely on the phone to do almost all of the work.

[Taz X14]

I don't know why they have to include the xbox controller as well though considering I already have one... not to mention if you want their controllers, then you'll have to pay even more.

[badz149]

MS paid them to do it. They struck a deal a couple months back. Maybe a way for MS to not feek totally left out from the VR race IMO.

[KingKionic]

Yeah this is rough.

I expected lower.

[sourav93]

What's worse is, now Sony could release PSVR for $500 and say "it's a whole $100 cheaper than the Rift", when in reality it's expensive on its own. And people are going to fall for it.

[ZeroX9876]

"And people are going to fall for it."

you meant "and people are going to go for it."

[KilKarazy]

Now you know why they didn't announce the price...

[ZeroX9876]

http://www.engadget.com/201...

back then it sounded quite expensive, but I could see lots of gamers buying it anyway. After seeing the actual price of the rift alone, 1,500$ for the whole bundle wasn't such a bad price after all....

[Duke19]

Wow - Id rather put that $600 into an awesome monitor and graphics card but to each their own

[OpieWinston]

You already need a pretty intense GPU 970/290 or Higher to run VR games decently.

[SweatyFlorida]

That was one of the arguments I got into in youtube wars when PC guys defended oculus and trashed on PSVR. They actually thought Rift was going to cost around $350-400, and they could build PC's for $600 to run them for a total of $1k. They also predicted PSVR to cost $500, and that $850 for the entire package is way to expensive and it's going to fail miserably.

I kept telling them there's no way oculus VR in total is going to cost anything less than $1200-1400. And this new announcement cements my predictions. I think it's safe to say PSVR should cost $100 more than whatever we predict to be safe. If it does come out for $350 though it's going to be amazing.

[OpieWinston]

@Sweaty
PSVR is definitely going to be more than the PS4. Given that it's got an external processor unit that has to be factored into price.

Sony will probably try selling it at a loss and make money back on Software. But if it came out at $350 I'd be worried about how cheap the product actually is.

We'll see how the HTC Vive is priced. It could be that the parts are just too expensive.

[rmw2hot87]

I'll stick with just Playing my XboxOne for now, Until it's more affordable for me

[emad-E-three]

If you don't own a PC then you shouldn't even worry or care about the price I mean what MS showed is not even close to VR to begin with so you better off keeping your money man.

[Orionsangel]

600 dollars is a lot for an unproven gimmick. Most people haven’t even been able to test it out or know what games will be available for it, but please take all my money, lol.

No matter how amazing it looks and feels. At the end of the day it's how much fun the games are to play. Are the games any good? It's like amazing graphics. Once you get passed the, oooh's and aaah's. It's up to game play to keep you interested.

[u4one]

Ok. Now who believes me that PlayStation vr will not cost $299? VR HMDs are not going to be cheap. At least not initially. The Vive is also expected to be in this price range. Around $750 with the controllers etc.

[neoandrew]

But it is just, a screen and gyroscope... for $599 and the whole ps4 is for $350.

[u4one]

It's not. There's spatial tracking, a heavy duty screen, gyros, Kinect like elements etc. these things use constellation tracking so they know your position in the space (that's why they have little dots across the front and sides of them and why psvr has lights around the front) There's a separate tracking unit for the oculus and the Vive uses its own laser positioning units of which you can expand with. Psvr requires the PlayStation camera as well.

Psvr is using really fast OLED screen at 1920x 120hz with a coprocessor get unit to accelerate and minimize lag on top of all the tracking and input. These things are more complicated than phone gyros. The studio I work for has been developing content for these things for the last 2 years. I've used all of them but psvr and we're getting some of those any day. When you use one you will understand why they are expensive. They are sophisticated, high quality, really fast and require Calibrating etc on top of it.

[neoandrew]

You don't need them, 2k smartphone is better than this shit. It has all it need, full 2K screen minimum 90-120 hz (using already one), OLED, gyro, that's it and you can use controller if you like.

PSVR will make FAKE interpolated frames, it is a hox for money, just as oculus and vive.

Oculus was started on kickstarter, the creator has cheated everybody and sold it to fb zuckerburger, another lying cheater.

Even then, with all that shit on board it is still just a screen with gyro and some accessories NO WHERE NEAR the real value of PS4 components.

[Mr Logic]

@ u4one

PS VR uses the PS4 camera which commonly retails for $40.

PS VR also only has 1 screen instead of 2, and at lower res even thought it is RGB thankfully.

Sony also has their own manufacturing instead of needing to hire outside firms.

PS VR WILL BE under $599, but I won't speculate on price beyond that.

[ApolloTheBoss]

Yeah good luck pushing VR at that price. No way I'm paying for that.

[iNFAMOUZ1]

done, came out to 680
that sucks, but i can make it up, still sucks hard though

[OpieWinston]

Lucky you're not in Canada... $849.99. I'm going to be at work thinking about if I should put the money down. Probably going to wait for HTC Vive price.

[Volkama]

Vive packs quite a lot of tech as well, I wouldn't expect the price to be far short of the Rift.

They both cost enough that I'll definitely wait to see how they compare when the finished products are both available for reviews and consumer testing.

[Mr Logic]

Well $850 CDN is $600 USD so...yeah.

[Peace_Love_and_FPS]

@MrLogic yes but when you're the currency was close in recent memory then drops a ton wages don't go with it, so US products cost more. Thankfully it just dropped enough for our 80 dollar games to be 57 US... Yes, now I can buy those 15 cent "5 cent candies" I've always wanted. Really wish I could get booze for cheap like you guys too.

[bleedsoe9mm]

the sony version has a co processor unit , it will be $599 as well and even at that price sony will probably be taking a loss .

[Eonjay]

What makes you so sure? Do you have any idea how much it cost to make?

[MasterCornholio]

All we have from Sony is that it will be priced similarly to a console.

Which means around 300$-400$ but that's probably without the camera.

I'm expecting a little higher though but not 600$.

[bleedsoe9mm]

not sure at all just guessing , if the rift is that much , sony has separate hardware to get thing to run right on the weaker console hardware . so and i'm just guessing here if the rift is 599$ , ps vr will be that or more unless sony decides they are going to take a huge bath on the price .

[TripleCs]

I'm sorry but if VR is going to be this expensive then it's DOA especially since it's an unproven technology. The average consumer isn't going to be willing to pay more than $350 for VR and even then $350 is pushing it. Let's just hope PSVR isn't this expensive but I unfortunately doubt it..

[Pandamobile]

Remember when the most basic of HDTVs cost $2000 like 10 years ago?

We all know VR is going to be an enthusiast product for at least a few years.

[traumadisaster]

I remember them being $5000 and then you found out the next year it was the 720p kind of HD. Hahahahah

[SweatyFlorida]

Exactly. The people calling fad or gimmick don't know a thing. If 3D stuck around even remotely, VR will stick around. Everything is expensive at first, from 3D to blu ray to 4k, but it all becomes cheaper 3-4 years after.

Though I guess it won't be an "iphone" moment anymore where it took the world by storm from get go (well unless Sony strikes gold somehow).

[jznrpg]

Plasmas were 40k when they first came out, then dropped to 8-10k range a for awhile.

[N4GDgAPc]

You be surprised. I showed my dad the DK2 and bought him the Gear Vr for Christmas last year and he loves it. He isn't a gamer at all but he is going to buy a vr ready pc and the oculus rift. A older guy that never played video games much at all in his life is now going full out gaming on his gear vr. Oculus Rift will be a big upgrade. So he will enjoy it even more.

He would rather watch movies on the oculus rift than on his 65in tv.

[sprinterboy]

Worried sick now at psvr price reveal, got £500 set aside but i want some games to play too

[MasterCornholio]

I'm just hoping that Sony is delaying the announcement to shock us with the price. Kind of what they did with the PS4 where many were predicting a 600$ price point for the system.

[sprinterboy]

@cornholio
God i hope your right

[traumadisaster]

The biggest problem is the lack of quality games.

We talk each gen about the lack of games...this hardware release will be known as the debacle of no content at release, and for the first year.

[LAWSON72]

My limit was $400 so no preordering for me

[iNFAMOUZ1]

i just hope it comes with strippers, wine, and a hell of a good screen, cause if gear vr is anything to go by, i will seriously be disappointed even harder if its the same experience, at that price, im expecting a screen that isn't blurry and no screen door effect, im going to kick my ass seriously hard for this come march lol...

[SteamPowered]

Gear VR is run on a phone.

Vive/Rift need a GTX 970 to get off the ground.

There will be a massive difference in quality. Gear VR couldnt hold a candle to the DK2 so I imagine a dedicated PC would tear it up the new HMDs.

[iNFAMOUZ1]

i hope so sir, its got two screens, and and bunch of other parts in there, its got to be WAY better, although UPDATE on my situation lol, it had march as a release date right, then the touch reserve button wouldnt go through, then 20 minutes later when i reserved my touch slot, it changed to april :( that sucks, i hope its still march

[traumadisaster]

I have a GearVR too and it does get you to understand what we are dealing with. I find it a good amusement park event, but even if I imagine that the Rift will be 6x better, it doesn't come close to matching $600. Plus I'm lucky to have a cpu to run it.

I grew up with atari and now game at 4kpc, so I know the difference of 6x better.

[SteamPowered]

A decent monitor will run you about the same price. You simply have to ask yourself what you would use more often. Virtual Desktop gives you any sized screen you want in VR with a lower resolution, or a sweet IPS 1440p monitor you can drool over.

I know people that wouldnt bat an eye over paying $1200CDN for a monitor.

[starchild]

I could either upgrade to a nicer G-Sync monitor or get the Oculus Rift. The choice is easy for me. I have about 4 different displays I can play my PC games on in the traditional way, but only a good VR headset will allow me to experience everything VR has to offer.

[The_Truth_24_7]

Sony wins.

[Mikefizzled]

Sony dodged announcing a price point. Hold your horses first.

[LAWSON72]

This thing will have far more developers and is kind of limitless. As tech advances so will what can happen on this thing. Meanwhile PSVR will be tied to PS4 and everything it is capable of. So no... no they don't. PC is the land of optional accessories that have backing all the time no matter what something will happen on this thing while if PSVR does not move units fast enough Sony will sink that ship quick like the Vita and move before it.

[Eonjay]

Not even close. They have already made a statement staying that they are already working on the Next Gen version of the Rift. So, eventually users of both will have to upgrade.

[badz149]

Limitless?? LOL but somehow the PSVR will be "limited"?

Oh my...that was a good laugh!

[emad-E-three]

NASA is using the PSVR!
So much for tied "limited" device, Get your facts before you write.

[traumadisaster]

I'm hoping for a Sony $599 announcement and then .1 sec later say including a ps4, camera, controllers, and games.

Then go to the next slide listing without ps4 as $300.

Calmly place mic in stand,(audience screams) then with a gentle touch tip the stand over....crowd blows up!

[ApocalypseShadow]

And so it begins.

I still think Vive will be more expensive than Oculus.

I still predict for PSVR alone it will be:

Headset-$299-$349
Headset+camera-$349-$399
Headset+camera+2moves-$449-$4 99

Sony WILL be cheaper regardless what the others are priced at guaranteed. I'm just waiting on the numbers from Vive.

[WheatBread]

You forgot the PS4 $350

[ApocalypseShadow]

People are saying PSVR will be more expensive than the PS4 and equal in price to Oculus.

My question to them is:

Which has more tech and processors in it?the PSVR? Or the PS4?

LEDs are cheap.the screen will be quality but cheap.the plastic form fitting but cheap.that processor box with HDMI out is not more powerful than the chips in PS4.

It will only be expensive if you put all the components together.but the headset will not be expensive by itself.and some gamers already have move controllers and the camera already.

[Ron_Danger]

If you're gonna add on the price for a ps4, then go back and do a little math and add a new PC or graphics card to the price of oculus for a more accurate comparison.

[Urbz7870]

Wow that's a huge let down makes wonder how the htc vive and other vr headset will cost.

[ApocalypseShadow]

But Luckey has said it won't be cheap already
http://www.roadtovr.com/ocu...

He told everyone that they want their first product to be the best they can make for first gen and it wouldn't be $350.

It will be:

PSVR -least expensive
Oculus -expensive
Vive - more expensive

That's how it will go.

[ocelot07]

If the minimum requirements are to be believed. If you plan on building a PC for the bare minimum specs plus the rift it's self. It is going to cost about £850 and that is the cheapest option (R9 290 and a FX 8350).

Lucky my PC reaches the minimum requirements. But £400 is way to expensive for me. I will just wait a few years I guess. Unless the PS VR coming in much cheaper (am doubting it) and some clever people manager to make drivers to get it running on a PC.

[sprinterboy]

Sony will announce a stadalone PlayStation vr event in 3, 2, 1

[WeAreLegion]

Yes, they will. I called it months ago! I knew they'd do it!

[sprinterboy]

@wearelegion

Sony could do a gaming first and have 2 GDC conferences ?

[WeAreLegion]

I didn't realize that was in March. Wow. I don't want to wait that long.

[Gwiz]

I think VR will be much more feasible in other industries,for example research.
It's probably a very nifty tech,still though you need quite some space to move around.

[uth11]

I'm not completely shocked. When you consider that smart phones cost around $600 (most of us don't pay that due to carrier subsidies, but that's what they cost)

VR headsets have screens, better screens than many phones do. they have lenses, headphones, lots more plastic or other material, supporting electronics, tracking schemes. And they also don't have the economies of scale that smart phones do. They are going to be expensive!

[TheTwelve]

If Sony counters this with a $399 VR unit it would surprise the heck outta me. Yet for some reason, it doesn't appear completely out of the realm of possibility.

[lastking95]

VR simply isn't worth the money.

[iNFAMOUZ1]

oh believe me i thought the same, you have to try it to believe it, its worth it trust me

[Antifan]

Pass big time. It's officially a niche accessory. Nice knowing you, Rift.

[Rookie_Monster]

At this price, DOA VR.

[lunatic0001]

Congrats on those who can afford it...I will not be able to get it because as its way out of my budget...not having a pc that can give me the oculus experience also makes the price go up even more...I hope I get to at least try it out one day as every time I have been to e3....I wasnt able to play it as the lines were always so long

[wraith4912]

Ah yes, not for the peasants. Can't wait for the tears when Sony announces their price.

[Maxor]

Stuff I'm willing spend $500-800 for this year.

1. Nvidia new Pascal GPU. Gotta have this, can't wait.
2. Samsung's new 4K Bluray player. A must have to bring my awesome 4K TV to life.
3. New iPad Pro. Just got it. Ouch.

Sorry OR, you didn't make the list.

[danny818]

That's expensive, and if there is not software then it's defined to fail. Another failed venture for Sony LOL

[Masterofwiiu3ds]

This could be $200 - if it ain't in a console, I'm not interested. I am NOT getting a PC with the specs it requires and sitting in my office to play games in virtual reality.