Ricerocket
Member
The price seems alrite. What I am more curious about is content. Is there anything that everyone has their eyes on that will grab VR for?
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HTC Vive is $799, ships early April 2016
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Elfforkusu
Member
I'll consider it.
This is the first gen of consumer VR, the headset is only a fraction of the total cost anyway. It's an enthusiast market for now.
This is the first gen of consumer VR, the headset is only a fraction of the total cost anyway. It's an enthusiast market for now.
Ahaaa, no one in their right mind is/was expecting enthusiast VR to even attempt to capture the mainstream and get wide adoption on first iteration. That's why products like GearVR and PSVR(unless Sony completely fucks up the price) exist. At this point, we all should fully understand that Oculus and especially the Vive are not even aimed at the mainstream market.
A fair price.
I hope PSVR is released before summer. That's a definite pick up.
Will pick up the Vive when I build a new computer around... an expensive christmas. Was weighing upgrade options to get the Vive on launch, but, I'll just hold off until the new computer and let the market and libraries sort itself out for a while.
I hope PSVR is released before summer. That's a definite pick up.
Will pick up the Vive when I build a new computer around... an expensive christmas. Was weighing upgrade options to get the Vive on launch, but, I'll just hold off until the new computer and let the market and libraries sort itself out for a while.
Vital Tundra
Member
Makes sense with how much Oculus is.
Hellsing321
Member
Valve is invested heavily in the success of SteamVR. Not necessarily in the success of the Vive. HTC is just the first company that partnered with them, but won't be the last.
Dreams-Visions
Member
https://youtu.be/tHu2Sk0DJpc is creeping my ears out! ahhhhhh
but yea I guess my point was that we don't have to wait for new headphones or something. we have what we need already.
ThoughtsOfSpeaking
Banned
Yeah good luck for VR getting mainstream acceptance any time soon.
That said, people expecting mass market prices on essentially a new product catagory are delusional.
That said, people expecting mass market prices on essentially a new product catagory are delusional.
artsi
Member
Yeah it's all on the software side, there's no idea yet how the Oculus SDK + DAC will play part in actually generating the audio (Palmer just says they are well integrated) but it should work on any headphone hardware. I know PSVR is also investing in binaural audio solutions, but I haven't heard anything from HTC or Valve yet.
ashecitism
Member
We don't know how they're going to handle it.
Nice! I was honestly thinking they might ask 1k for it. We are getting the full VR experience finally, and $800 for an enthusiast device that is basically a market-starter is not bad at all.
I am just stoked that I can budget for one. I assumed I would have to settle for an Oculus.
Damn good news.
I am just stoked that I can budget for one. I assumed I would have to settle for an Oculus.
Damn good news.
I love all the haters out here who think it's going to flop. This is how much new tech costs. Lots of entitled people expecting a sub $400 price. Brand new tech is not typically affordable. It may not become fully mainstream anytime soon but eventually the price will slowly work itself down and will be more widely accepted. I fully expect the PlayStation VR to cost $500 ($400 at the lowest) especially since it's not just a headset it's an extra external box.
I'm a bit more impressed by those that identify this is not the generation of VR for them. At least they understand it takes time for the price to generalize. If you can't afford this generation, sorry! Hang tight, the price will slowly drop over time. Not within a year, no, but as there are hardware revisions and contracts made with manufacturers it will eventually drop.
The telltale sign that this won't go away anytime soon is how many companies are invested in making this a competitive market. Sony, Occulus and HTC are just the bigger ones. CES was a great sign that there are competitors out there trying to pull cheaper ones together.
Sure, this could go the way of the Kinect but it has WAY more support and competition than it had.
Edit: And yea, I'm in the camp with the others that expected this to be more expensive. I'm glad they pulled it in under $1k.
I'm a bit more impressed by those that identify this is not the generation of VR for them. At least they understand it takes time for the price to generalize. If you can't afford this generation, sorry! Hang tight, the price will slowly drop over time. Not within a year, no, but as there are hardware revisions and contracts made with manufacturers it will eventually drop.
The telltale sign that this won't go away anytime soon is how many companies are invested in making this a competitive market. Sony, Occulus and HTC are just the bigger ones. CES was a great sign that there are competitors out there trying to pull cheaper ones together.
Sure, this could go the way of the Kinect but it has WAY more support and competition than it had.
Edit: And yea, I'm in the camp with the others that expected this to be more expensive. I'm glad they pulled it in under $1k.
Golgo 13
The Man With The Golden Dong
Get back to me when they've recouped R&D costs and have reached market saturation, and are actually making profit. I'm guessing A) Never. B) 5-10 years if they survive.
I don't doubt it will sell out, because they know damn well manufacturing enough to barely meet projected demand is much safer than overproducing and sitting on devalued inventory.
Dreams-Visions
Member
oh i see. well given their attention to detail on the rest of the product, it seems like something that wouldn't be ignored by any of these hardware manufacturers.
Collateral22
Member
I take it the pc requirements will also be a bit more than the Oculus? 970 minimum?
Dreams-Visions
Member
they look the same, though the Vive requires no USB3.0 ports. the OR requires 2 of those.
Azure Dream
Member
It's pretty much the same as the Rift, except for requiring less USB ports. Only 1 2.0 port required, instead of 3 3.0.
AmaterasuOni
Banned
Sony is in an excellent position to dominate the VR market. I wonder if they're willing to take a monetary hit and sell it for loss at launch? Make it cheap enough and create profit from software.
Nabs
Member
http://www.htcvive.com/us/product-optimized/
RECOMMENDED PC SPECS
GPU: - NVIDIA GeForce® GTX 970 / AMD Radeon™ R9 290 equivalent or greater
CPU: - Intel® i5-4590 / AMD FX 8350 equivalent or greater
RAM: - 4GB+
Video Output: - HDMI 1.4 or DisplayPort 1.2 or newer
USB Port: - 1x USB 2.0 or greater port
Operating System: - Windows 7 SP1 or newer
artsi
Member
That's why I think most games with an actual budget will be not room scale but something that works on all HMD's (Rift, PSVR and Vive) for maximum sales potential.
That's also why I'm not going bonkers about room scale yet, before all HMD's support it and there's a market for those games.
I'd assume not creating VR-exclusive "AAA" games (unless you have platform holder support) is an important part of it.
I can't say I mind that at all.
TemplaerDude
Member
Oh my god, seriously? For real? Oh god guys, he's spoken, I guess this over.
How much did you expect first run, top of line VR technology to cost? 20 plus tax? Where are you people pulling these ideas from? This and the Rift are going to sell out quickly because there are plenty of people who are more than willing to pay that price. First adopters. Then it gets in their hands and the price to make it eventually drops and the price to consumer drops and then everyone's happy. This was never going to be priced to fly off the shelves to Joe Schmo, do you know what's in these things? Jesus fucking Christ.
20 years ROFL. God some of you just have zero idea how anything works. The second you can't afford it it gets written off. Thank God you're not in charge of anything.
I think an "actual budget" is much less important than "actual VR".
cyberheater
PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 Xbone PS4 PS4
The cost will come down as the technology matures. I'm sure they'll get their money back.
Collateral22
Member
Cool beans. My PC I am building should be fine with that. Won't be an early adopter but down the line I might look into it when the prices drop a bit.
artsi
Member
Depends on the person I guess, games that look like Job Simulator just do not appeal to me at all. I'd like some good art direction and a bit deeper experiences myself.
The Vive is an enthusiast grade VR solution, it was not designed for "getting mainstream acceptance". But there are many affordable PCVR solutions (or go PSVR, good for you) on the horizon.. How hard can it be to understand this. It's getting ridiculous.
diablos991
Can’t stump the diablos
Glad I got in the March Oculus preorder.
Roomscale doesn't interest me as much. Hoping the Oculus touch ends up being less than $100.
Roomscale doesn't interest me as much. Hoping the Oculus touch ends up being less than $100.
NegativeCero
Banned
Nope. I'll let others early adopters tell me whether any of these headsets are worth it. I'll be fine until then.
There are a lot of people who are convinced that AAA games need to exist for these things to take off. You are going to be shocked by how much you or anyone else won't care about AAA (or how we define it now). Even the simplest video game action works. Shooting a gun in an FPS in a one room space for example is already imemsly satisfying in room scale VR. This really is a new medium and the weird expectations and standards people have from AAA video games don't apply.
It makes me sad to think that if this had come out a few years earlier, I would have no problem buying it at $799 CAD.
The $1100+ it'll end up being is absolutely far too much though, once you hit over $1000 it's pretty much DoA as a first gen product, at least in this country.
The $1100+ it'll end up being is absolutely far too much though, once you hit over $1000 it's pretty much DoA as a first gen product, at least in this country.
Golgo 13
The Man With The Golden Dong
That's unlikely considering HTC is in huge trouble financially.
I'm sure development of this began when the company was still profitable, but in its current state, its extremely dangerous. They can't afford to "wait it out", unlike Oculus who's ownership (Facebook) is sitting on many billions and still making tons of money from other revenue streams.
mainstream vr is already available in a way thru gear vr. Shouldn't be expecting that out of either rift or the vive.
That said, 800 is going to be a tough pill for most people to swallow, even people interested in vr.
Im sure that's the case for initial shock and awe, but I don't expect that to last.
That said, 800 is going to be a tough pill for most people to swallow, even people interested in vr.
Im sure that's the case for initial shock and awe, but I don't expect that to last.
Stiler
Member
It's different for things that are dependent on multiple mediums, unlike just plain gadgets or things, when you make something which requires another thing (in this case, games) you NEED widespread market.
Why? Because you don't simply need people to buy a few headsets, you NEED people to buy headsets, to buy the games for it, to play them, to spread the word and get other people to buy them.
This is why things like the Laserdisc failed horribly. Laserdisc was better than VHS by far, but it never took off.
it was super expensive, the laserdisc movies were expensive, people never took to it even though it offered a better experience over VHS players.
You can't "lower the price" of a system like this if the market never takes off and peple aren't buying them, if you depend solely on the enthuasist market and ZERO mainstream penetration you won't make the money you need in order to lower the cost and make a profit because you'll be stuck with a limited audience who in turn are buying limited games.
Developers will eventually stop making games for a small niche audience (see the Wii third party developers), people will then lose interest because there's no games coming out for it and it'll go belly up.
Now imagine if you did go for the mainstream appeal.
The average joe could afford to get it, he sees his friends playing iwth it, tries it and loves it and the price is such that he can take the plunge.
You sell so many that even though you lose some money on the headset you sell enough that you make more on the backend, games, accessories, on top of this because the market is huge developers keep making better and newer games, in turn people keep buying the headset.
I'm not saying it can't make it at this price, but it's muuuuuuuuch more risky approach than aiming for some mainstream market penetration.
There were people that I talked to about VR with the rift and things that were soooooo excited for the rift/vive to come out and deciding on which one they'd get at launch, now almost ALL of them are taking a "I'll wait and see how they do and for a price drop"
generic_username
I switched to an alt account to ditch my embarrassing tag so I could be an embarrassing Naughty Dog fanboy in peace. Ask me anything!
Pretty much.
WaterAstro
Member
"We've heard your complaints on the HTC Vive, so now we will reveal the price of our product. 799 million dollars! A true premium product!" - Apple
artsi
Member
I'm interested on what Apple will cook up.
They recently brought the Pencil, which the public doesn't really care about. But tech wise it's in some ways more advanced than Wacom, N-trig and other players that have been on the field forever. And it was their first try.
Like Facebook and Google, they definitely have the resources to make something awesome that will drive the tech forward.
They recently brought the Pencil, which the public doesn't really care about. But tech wise it's in some ways more advanced than Wacom, N-trig and other players that have been on the field forever. And it was their first try.
Like Facebook and Google, they definitely have the resources to make something awesome that will drive the tech forward.
BlackRainbowFT
Member
My bet was on 800$. I'll be F5-ing like crazy on the 29th, that's for sure.
Chuck Norris
Banned
What nonsense. No mainstream growth means little to no on going software support. It's expensive to make VR support let alone dedicated games
If one of these devices doesn't pick up mainstream traction then they are all dead
Dreamwriter
Member
A lot of VR games are being made by indie developers, which is great. Some are AAA games being made by larger companies that are getting funding help, like with Crytek who are being paid to make The Climb on Oculus Rift and Robinson: The Journey on PSVR. There aren't going to be as many AAA games in VR as people hope for, not for a couple years at least, but indie games are fine, you don't need a $10 million budget to make a great game, and you don't need a AAA budget to make a game with great gameplay and a lot of depth. And AAA graphics generally need too much power for VR anyways.
I honestly don't think price is the biggest hurdle for mainstream adoption of VR.
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