If you have followed my years-long saga of ranting about modern VR, you might know that one of the main reasons why I think it failed to become so ultra-revolutionary as everybody was expecting was their exorbitant price. Also, their low resolution and inconvenience of use.
When the headsets costs about 700€ (the Oculus Rift) or even 900€ (the HTC Vive) at launch, that's way too much for such a niche product with no triple-A titles to speak of. (These prices include VAT, if you are wondering.)
I have also noted how Valve/HTC doesn't seem to be learning the lesson, as they are coming up with new improved versions of their headset... which are even more expensive than the original. The "HTC Vive Pro" is just ridiculously expensive. Their next iteration, the "Valve Index", is also more expensive than the original Vive (about 1000€).
However, it appears that Oculus actually has learned the lesson, at least partially. Rather than making new improved revisions of their headset more expensive, they are making them actually less expensive.
While the Oculus Rift S, which is the kind of next revision of the Oculus Rift, is in some ways a bit worse than the original (for example it doesn't have physically adjustable pupil distance, nor built-in headphones), it's arguably better in more ways (it has a higher resolution, better lenses, and most conveniently, does not require any external tracking stations).
Most importantly, though, the price is going in the right direction: 480€ here.
It's still far from perfect, of course, and it will not cause the "VR revolution" to finally kick in, with millions of units sold, but at least it's a step in the correct direction, unlike what Valve is doing. Maybe Oculus is not as stupid as Valve is being.
When the headsets costs about 700€ (the Oculus Rift) or even 900€ (the HTC Vive) at launch, that's way too much for such a niche product with no triple-A titles to speak of. (These prices include VAT, if you are wondering.)
I have also noted how Valve/HTC doesn't seem to be learning the lesson, as they are coming up with new improved versions of their headset... which are even more expensive than the original. The "HTC Vive Pro" is just ridiculously expensive. Their next iteration, the "Valve Index", is also more expensive than the original Vive (about 1000€).
However, it appears that Oculus actually has learned the lesson, at least partially. Rather than making new improved revisions of their headset more expensive, they are making them actually less expensive.
While the Oculus Rift S, which is the kind of next revision of the Oculus Rift, is in some ways a bit worse than the original (for example it doesn't have physically adjustable pupil distance, nor built-in headphones), it's arguably better in more ways (it has a higher resolution, better lenses, and most conveniently, does not require any external tracking stations).
Most importantly, though, the price is going in the right direction: 480€ here.
It's still far from perfect, of course, and it will not cause the "VR revolution" to finally kick in, with millions of units sold, but at least it's a step in the correct direction, unlike what Valve is doing. Maybe Oculus is not as stupid as Valve is being.
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