When Oculus was first introduced to the world through Kickstarter three years ago, people were excited about the prospect of the platform and how it could be the next big thing not only as a gaming platform but also be used in various other fields.
But the excitement somewhat died down among the loyalist when the company was sold to Facebook for $1billion. The company though now has advanced much more in the VR space with highly developed headset and immersive VR experience.
The company recently launched the pre-orders for its consumer edition of the headset and the supplies for the same were sold out immediately. If you pre-order a headset now it will be chances are you will only get the headset by June. Though the headset pre-orders have flown off the shelves quickly, there has been a common complaint in the air among the potential buyers about the $599 price tag the headset comes with.
Washington Post in a recent interview with Oculus, CEO, Brendan Iribe, at the Consumer Electronics Show revealed that the simple reason for the high cost of the Rift was its expensive components. The company, Iribe said, wanted to focus on bringing the best virtual reality experience possible to the market and didn’t want to compromise on the quality of the headset or the experience. Iribe added that the margins were razor thin and they were only looking to break-even.
The price tag does not justify the comments from Oculus co-founder Palmer Luckey, who previously stated that the Rift’s price would be in the region of $350 – the initial price at which the Oculus was selling the kit to developers. That set expectations for a much lower consumer price than the one announced this week at CES 2016.
On Reddit, Luckey apologised for his earlier comments, explaining that at the time he was trying to combat expectations that the Rift would cost more than $1,500.
Luckey wrote in an open Reddit question and answer session, “My answer was ill-prepared, and mentally, I was contrasting $349 with $1,500, not our internal estimate that hovered close to $599 – that is why I said it was in roughly the same ballpark.”
Still, Iribe acknowledges that the price of the Rift does mean that it’s not for everyone, but he thinks the price is still a good value for the experience you get. Iribe said that it’s been exciting for him to see how people outside the company have reacted to the latest version of the headset.
It will be interesting to see how Rift competitors such as Sony and HTC, that are working on a VR system which requires you to place multiple sensors around the room, will also handle the price question. Dedicated gamers will likely pick up the devices – if you take a cue from Oculus’s pre-order numbers, in fact, perhaps more than anyone anticipated. But even with the first consumer models headed out into the real world, the cost of these headsets may keep them from going mainstream for quite a while yet.
For Iribe, the next steps are clear: Find more applications for the Rift to make it a more compelling device. The company has actively courted game developers to launch content with the Rift and is fielding other ideas by way of its app marketplace.