Oculus Rift available for preorder for $599.99, shipping in March

piratethingy said:
4K tvs officially doomed because the first ones were tens of thousands of dollars (with little to no available 4K content)
Click to expand...

I keep seeing comparisons like this made (cell phones, TV's, etc.) but this is such a flawed comparison for one major reason, VR content needs to be specifically made. If a studio wants to take an old film and re-release it on 4k, they just do it. If someone wants to place a call from a cell phone, they just do it. If someone wants to play a VR game, that shit needs to be MADE to begin with.

I'm not saying that I foresee VR failing (I think it will be fine), but this comparison is just ridiculous. Enough people need to invest in it for CONTENT to be made. You can't compare it to other cutting edge tech that required very little in the way of content investment.
 
KHarvey16 said:
I mean, comparing just the Rift to a phone+gear VR is a little strange. The PC-Rift combo was always obviously going to be more, and the gear was always going to be cheaper than the Rift on its own. Not to mention they aren't really that comparable as far as what they do and how they do it.
Click to expand...

That's the thing, it wasn't that obvious. A no contract gear compatible phone + get is more than 500. At no point before the last few did oculus say the rift would be that much more expensive than the kits. If you thought so, kudos. :) but obvious it was not.
 
michael92 said:
If I want to buy a new graphics card or a PS4 in Europe I don't need to pay customs. Why should I foot the bill because Oculus is unable to cater their product to a 500M market? This is insane and people shouldn't give it a pass.

Shipping from the US my ass.
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I was under the impression that the 699€ tag already includes taxes and customs?
 
michael92 said:
What are you talking about? They should import the rifts in bulk into Europe just like any other product and ship them from within. This is pure negligence of Oculus. Once again an American-centered company shitting all over Europe.
Click to expand...

That's what they are doing.

VAT is in the £499/699 euro price.

They just aren't subsidising the costs in Europe like console manufacturers do so the prices are in-line with what the mass market would pay.
 
00ich said:
Better question: why is all that stuff in there? They priced DK1 300$ and DK2 350$ and a lot of people were quite happy with that.
This a year later an massed produced.

TheHomer.png
Click to expand...

"All that stuff"?

Well, because Oculus wants to build a premium device with custom parts engineered specifically to do what they want to do. Instead of off the shelf parts like what they used for the DKs.

Because the device pretty much needs a controller and a remote.

Because people are buying it anyway, faster than they expected.

Because they want to set the stage with the most premium, high-quality device they can build, knowing that there's an audience for it with enough money to buy it, instead of compromising their first ever consumer product to meet some unnecessarily lower-price tier.
 
So for the people that have ordered from the UK for £520. Would you consider sending it back if you had to pay customs aswell?
 
Cutwolf said:
Then wouldn't it be more logical to price it low, but artificially reduce shipment numbers, rather than risk turning people off because of the high price?
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Not really, price is one of the strongest signals you can send to a market. Pricing it low with low availability makes you seem incompetent and makes your product seem cheap. It's easier to regain consumers turned off by high prices than it is consumers who are disappointed with quality. Remember, that they are going to have competition in the space as well.

Stake out the high ground for yourselves. Be seen as the high end solution and then in a year or two you can come out with a lower cost model that will seem like good value. You have to plan ahead with pricing and give yourself room to make moves in the future.

The iPhone and iPod are good examples of how this strategy can work. It wasn't until the 3rd Generation iPod that things took off. The first two Gens laid the groundwork. One of the reasons that all of the so called "iPod killers" failed is because they tried to do it all in one go. You have to be patient and build it out.
 
Ordered. Yolo. Bring on PS VR too.


Also some of the comments in this thread....lmfao.


VR is a marathon not a sprint. These things will be mass market eventually. But on launch? Get real.
 
plagiarize said:
There are plenty of games that are already well suited to VR like cockpit titles. Yes, you have to make the game with VR in mind, but it's not that different from making a normal game, under many circumstances. Yes, it's going to be a while before we see completely VR exclusive AAA games, and most of the work done in those spaces initially will be indie titles, but we're going to see AAA games well suited to VR support it in the short term. Arguably it's cheaper than buying whole new cameras, editing, mastering, equipment etc required for 4K.
Click to expand...

The same companies that won't even port Wii U titles because they don't want to deal with the second controller? Or the ones that didn't support Kinect despite the fact that there more than a few out there?

How bout this...what's cheaper adding 3D in post or making a game VR compatible?
 
michael92 said:
What are you talking about? They should import the rifts in bulk into Europe just like any other product and ship them from within. This is pure negligence of Oculus. Once again an American-centered company shitting all over Europe.
Click to expand...

Don't be unreasonable. You can't really expect this from a small-time company like Facebook. Subsizing Oculus Rift at launch to help adoption and then make back money with software sales obviously was out of the question, too. They simply lack the resources.
 
Nafai1123 said:
I keep seeing comparisons like this made (cell phones, TV's, etc.) but this is such a flawed comparison for one major reason, VR content needs to be specifically made. If a studio wants to take an old film and re-release it on 4k, they just do it. If someone wants to place a call from a cell phone, they just do it. If someone wants to play a VR game, that shit needs to be MADE to begin with.

I'm not saying that I foresee VR failing (I think it will be fine), but this comparison is just ridiculous. Enough people need to invest in it for CONTENT to be made. You can't compare it to other cutting edge tech that required very little in the way of content investment.
Click to expand...

*sigh*. So producing a 4K digital print from 35mm is totes free, but patching VR support into an old game is impossible.

Content exists. Already. A good amount between hacked in support, engine ports, officially patched in support and stuff made for VR in the first place. Well beyond what you'd expect from a console at launch, anyways.
Doc Holliday said:
The same companies that won't even port Wii U titles because they don't want to deal with the second controller? Or the ones that didn't support Kinect despite the fact that there more than a few out there?

How bout this...what's cheaper adding 3D in post or making a game VR compatible?
Click to expand...

It depends on the game. I'm sure Codemasters spent less adding VR support to Dirt Rally than it cost to post convert Star Wars.
 
Beefy said:
So for the people that have ordered from the UK for £520. Would you consider sending it back if you had to pay customs aswell?
Click to expand...

I just wouldn't bother in the first place. If you've ordered from outside Europe to the UK, I'm almost certain there will be a slight delay and a huge customs fee attached to your order.
 
michael92 said:
No, just VAT. You are playing a Russian roulette whether you will pay customs or not (if you are lucky).



I am talking about customs taxes not VAT.
Click to expand...

If they ship from an EU country to another EU country, no customs should be added in any case.
 
BlastProcessing said:
Not really, price is one of the strongest signals you can send to a market. Pricing it low with low availability makes you seem incompetent and makes your product seem cheap. It's easier to regain consumers turned off by high prices than it is consumers who are disappointed with quality. Remember, that they are going to have competition in the space as well.

Stake out the high ground for yourselves. Be seen as the high end solution and then in a year or two you can come out with a lower cost model that will seem like good value. You have to plan ahead with pricing and give yourself room to make moves in the future.

The iPhone and iPod are good examples of how this strategy can work. It wasn't until the 3rd Generation iPod that things took off. The first two Gens laid the groundwork. One of the reasons that all of the so called "iPod killers" failed is because they tried to do it all in one go. You have to be patient and build it out.
Click to expand...

* DING DING DING* You got it right. High price and can't find it anywhere? People want the HELL out of it. Low price and no availability? It must be a piece of garbage.
 
My question is, will Sonys major studios have time to make PSVR compatible games? Id love to see ND and Guerilla games make their stuff compatible. Was ticked off about vita support.
 
BlastProcessing said:
Not really, price is one of the strongest signals you can send to a market. Pricing it low with low availability makes you seem incompetent and makes your product seem cheap. It's easier to regain consumers turned off by high prices than it is consumers who are disappointed with quality. Remember, that they are going to have competition in the space as well.

Stake out the high ground for yourselves. Be seen as the high end solution and then in a year or two you can come out with a lower cost model that will seem like good value. You have to plan ahead with pricing and give yourself room to make moves in the future.

The iPhone and iPod are good examples of how this strategy can work. It wasn't until the 3rd Generation iPod that things took off. The first two Gens laid the groundwork. One of the reasons that all of the so called "iPod killers" failed is because they tried to do it all in one go. You have to be patient and build it out.
Click to expand...

This isn't the same market at all. The audience is different and will be for a time. That and the cost isn't subsidized like a phone. Almost no one pays the up front cost of a phone.
 
Obliterator said:
On the plus side we will have 2 mobths worth of software updates to improve the experience. So not too bad getting it slightly later
Click to expand...

Honestly that is always the worst thing about getting these early. The tech in the next few years is going to iterate very fast. The 'one upsmanship' between companies in the next few years is going to be fun.
 
piratethingy said:
4K tvs officially doomed because the first ones were tens of thousands of dollars (with little to no available 4K content)
Click to expand...

Here's the thing

4k isn't really much of an annoyance from the content side. You start with a master copy, and this time you just produce a 4k and a 1080p version, minor work to make sure each is fine, but realistically, nothing too crazy.

VR gaming is different. Oculus is asking developers to put significant investment, development time and resources into producing a version of their game that is compatible with the Oculus Rift VR headset. Baring in mind there isn't some sort of open standards for VR to develop towards, you've got to develop to the implementation of the technology. If you don't test well, you'll probably fuck up and make people feel like shit if there's visual glitches. So let's just sum this up:

Luckey is asking developers to put significant investment, time and testing into an already niche product that costs from $600 upwards if you don't live in America, that already requires a $1000 PC to run at some ok standard.

Do you perhaps understand why this is a really shit idea?
 
dLMN8R said:
"All that stuff"?

Well, because Oculus wants to build a premium device with custom parts engineered specifically to do what they want to do. Instead of off the shelf parts like what they used for the DKs.

Because the device pretty much needs a controller and a remote.

Because people are buying it anyway, faster than they expected.

Because they want to set the stage with the most premium, high-quality device they can build, knowing that there's an audience for it with enough money to buy it, instead of compromising their first ever consumer product to meet some unnecessarily lower-price tier.
Click to expand...

I need some sources on that claim.
 
michael92 said:
No, just VAT. You are playing a Russian roulette whether you will pay customs or not (if you are lucky).



I am talking about customs taxes not VAT.
Click to expand...

You seem to be confused.

VAT is what companys are required to collect when selling products in the EU(unless they're product types which are excluded).

Customs/Duty Tax AND VAT is charged when a retailer outside of the EU sends something to someone inside the EU. Where VAT hasn't been paid.

These are being shipped from within the EU.
 
I'm not completely disagreeing with you, but:

dLMN8R said:
Because the device pretty much needs a controller and a remote.
Click to expand...

We didn't know the Remote even existed until today, suddenly it needed it? My GearVR has a simple touch pad on the side, and between that and headtracking (which it doesn't even do with the same accuracy as Oculus will) that's fine for basic stuff.

The controller sticks out to a lot of people as kind of strange, as it's just a MS-branded product plunked into there, one that some people on this board already own. I'm sure it was cheapest for Oculus to do it that way if they decided they had to have a controller, and the difference is not the retail cost of the controller by far, but I think some people are looking at that and saying "I already have that, why do I need to get another?"
 
Did they find a way to play fps games on VR without getting disoriented & nauseous? Fps is one of the biggest genre and the one you would think works the best with VR but I heard its not and very challenging if not impossible to make.
 
michael92 said:
What are you talking about? They should import the rifts in bulk into Europe just like any other product and ship them from within. This is pure negligence of Oculus. Once again an American-centered company shitting all over Europe.
Click to expand...

I don't know for certain the situation with shipping, but when I ordered the page was Oculus Ireland. Being in the UK, could it be that Oculus will be importing to Ireland amd then using that as their base to ship within the EU?

I really hope I don't get stung for VAT or import duty on an already expensive product.
 
P44 said:
Here's the thing

4k isn't really much of an annoyance from the content side. You start with a master copy, and this time you just produce a 4k and a 1080p version, minor work to make sure each is fine, but realistically, nothing too crazy.

VR gaming is different. Oculus is asking developers to put significant investment, development time and resources into producing a version of their game that is compatible with the Oculus Rift VR headset. Baring in mind there isn't some sort of open standards for VR to develop towards, you've got to develop to the implementation of the technology. If you don't test well, you'll probably fuck up and make people feel like shit if there's visual glitches. So let's just sum this up:

Luckey is asking developers to put significant investment, time and testing into an already niche product that costs from $600 upwards if you don't live in America, that already requires a $1000 PC to run at some ok standard.

Do you perhaps understand why this is a really shit idea?
Click to expand...

It's not all about games. VR cameras are a thing.
 
449.99 was the sweet spot imo.

Expensive but give you enough wiggle room to not feel guilty about splurging on the rift and a nice PC.

If the rift somehow had an aboard cpu or something to ease the PC requirements I could justify the price.
 
woen said:
You're talking about a guy that puts a blazer with his t-shirt and has hands-off microphone in order to be able to move his hands slowly on a theater scene because it is so cool.
so yeah
Click to expand...

Why is this so bad?
 
Way too expensive to get here into Ireland. Costs + VAT + import duty would put it within reach of €1000.

Fuck that. I don't care how good it is I'm never paying that much.
 
Doc Holliday said:
449.99 was the sweet spot imo.

Expensive but give you enough wiggle room to not feel guilty about splurging on the rift and a nice PC.

If the rift somehow had an aboard cpu or something to ease the PC requirements I could justify the price.
Click to expand...

You don't need to justify the price right now. You can buy it later when it's both better and cheaper. Hell, even the gaming PC you need to use it will be cheaper.
 
Doc Holliday said:
That's the thing, it wasn't that obvious. A no contract gear compatible phone + get is more than 500. At no point before the last few did oculus say the rift would be that much more expensive than the kits. If you thought so, kudos. :) but obvious it was not.
Click to expand...

No I mean the cost of a capable PC plus the rift was always going to be higher than the cost of the phone plus a $100 peripheral. I can't imagine anyone expected differently.
 
Doc Holliday said:
449.99 was the sweet spot imo.

Expensive but give you enough wiggle room to not feel guilty about splurging on the rift and a nice PC.

If the rift somehow had an aboard cpu or something to ease the PC requirements I could justify the price.
Click to expand...

Given a year or so and barring any good sales on the hardware, it will probably be down at that price. This is early adopter price for new tech.
 
"Checks compatibility"

Even my USB ports aren't compatible! WTF?

Also high minimum specs and ridiculous price insure this will stay a very niche product.
 
I'm not so mad about the price myself, I was prepared to take a big hit, I really want the headset.

Some people might want it to flop as a "revenge" or something but I still hope the sales are good, so we can have software support from developers.
 
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