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Competitive Pricing With Oculus


Withered

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So I just watched an interview with the head of the Rift discuss that they are already reducing the cost of both the Oculus Rift Headset by $100, and the Oculus Touch by $100, bring the total down to $599.  I see that HTC is offering a financing plan.  But due to this direct competitor on the high end PC VR market, will you be adjusting the pricing to stay competitive?  Oculus is also apparently giving a $50 credit, (For 30 days from the annoucement), in the Oculus Home store for anyone who bought the Touch for $200.  It's not $100 that they spent over what they would have spent by waiting, but it's something.  I have a Vive, and I love it as the great piece of tech that it is with advantages it has over the Rift as well, but the jealously of Oculus owners having a better strap off the bat, (Now we have to wait for the Vive to buy a better strap extra, later), the price drop today apparently, and the credit back to early adoptors is definately a thorn in the side of sales of the Vive.  Sure Oculus partially lost a lawsuit with Zenimax, but as it stands, they are still in the game.  Is there going to be a response to Oculus's move by HTC?  I want this all to succeed.  I want this in more hands.  I want deveolpers to see it as a viable medium to build games on, instead of a niche market where only people with expendable income, or high credit card limits can get the device.  I really feel the Vive has a leg up with the technology of the tracking system, but consumers look at price and won't know the difference once they pick one over the other.

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I saw something about that, too, Withered, on youtube.

 

My Vive was kind of an impulse buy, so I was pretty happy that I picked the "right" platform, i.e. the one I would probably have selected had I given them a more thorough evaluation, due primarily to room-scale.

 

Now that I've had it for a while, I have two thoughts:

1 - I would really like to try the Oculus just to see what it looks like without the fresnel lenses.

2 - The differences in content do not bother me much between the Vive and Oculus, however I do see games for the Playstation (only) that appeal to me and it gets me thinking/concerned about the massive resources that Sony must have available to fuel development for their headest.

 

Given the price change, had I not already spent my money, I probably still would buy the Vive today, still due to superior room scale,  BUT I do like the looks of those little Oculus controllers.

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I'm a prospective Vive buyer.

 

I'm telling you Vive Devs, drop your price now and demand for Vive will blow Oculus away. Stay this expensive and you're going to fall behind and be a forgotten footnote (No one wants to remember the VirtualBoy).

 

So I've heard about the VR headsets and seen the ad for Vive on Steam, but I never really paid attention until I came across the PS4 VR in a gaming store. I realized that this was a real thing now and might be pretty amazing technology. So I've been looking into the VR options, and I have EVERY INTENTION to buy one by next year. I'm already obsessed with the idea, and I'm saving every penny. It's obvious that this is the future of gaming and TV. I immediately eliminated the PS4 VR from consideration and I'm debating between Oculus and Vive.

 

I've been a PC gamer ever since the N64 became outdated, and for some reason that makes Vive appeal to me. Maybe because I like the idea of supporting Steam, I donno. Really, the MOST appealing thing about Vive is the room scale! Without question, this makes me want the Vive SO BAD. I want to move while I'm playing. I want an omnidirectional treadmill so I can run and jump around in the beautiful worlds of PC games. Vive has the advantage here, but not for long. Now Oculus can do room scale too... but not as well, so I've heard. I doubt they'll be behind for long on this front. As a stupid side note, the Oculus controllers look WAY cooler (but the headset not as cool) than those doopy looking Vive wands.

 

So I want room scale, but both Oculus and Vive will probably be doing this just fine by next year. Sometime after that, Playstation will probably release a refined product with a higher-powered console box, and they will start to take the lead on game content and variety (given their significant financial advantage and game development experiance).  If the prices stay the same Vive will die. Right now I want a Vive, but this drop in price of the Oculus... I'm thinking twice. $600 vs $800 is huge. Honestly, I might actually go for the Oculus instead... The only thing that might keep me targeting the Vive would be if they released a blockbuster hit game that's more than a couple hours long and has graphics that look better than my dusty N64. I guess I'll see how the score has settled in a year.

 

Please drop your price... I'm crossing my fingers.

 

Also, a multi-directional treadmill would also give you an advantage... (it looks like the only two companies producing a reasonable sized product are only selling to arcades right now.)

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Hey 
love your post and agree with a lot of points. But i like a healthy debate so let me stir this up a bit. 
If you are going to wait until next year then you will probably have two choices of Vive the current one or Vive 2.0 so if you buy the current one you should get that as a discount.  your wish will then come true. 

But the point i want to debate is Why should Vive reduce there prices?
If Ferrari reduced there prices they would sell more cars  But they don't because they make some of the best cars. 
Vive is already outselling Rift, currently its only real competition.
PSVR is not the same VR experience so should be excluded from this Its a Console with a VR attachment.
Many will say that Vive is a superior product not only with the Lighthouses and room scale but because of Valves and HTC open source policy and the direction that it is currently taking VR. 
Rift will become either an Apple Clone (locked content and limited options outside what it wants you to do) or it will fail in a few years. 
With the likes of LG and other companies working along the same lines as the Vive it will be interesting to see. 

There will be other controllers on the market remember we are only talking about a product a year old the people that will be making these new controllers and peripherals are watching to see if VR will be a success but we are starting to see Guns, bats and other items slowly being showcased so again by the time you come to buy a Vive in a years time you should find a lot more options. 

On a Side note the treadmills will only work if the game developer allows it do and the feedback from people that have tried them has not been overwhelming. I think the new Tracker will make a difference to movement in games. 

I will make a note in my diary and in a year we will see who has predicted Vr's future better.




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