The Oculus Rift Is Expensive, But (Hopefully) Worth It

Research analysts expect the PlayStation VR headset to launch somewhere between $400-$600, putting it in direct competition with the $600 starting price of Oculus Rift.

“I think our grandchildren are going to look and say, ‘Wow, can you believe that in the 2000s the only way to record a sports game or a family event was to take those still shots through a tiny window?'” Luckey said past year.

The tech, which is now available for pre-order, was priced at £499 ($599). As previously announced, the VR headset (with built-in headphones and mic) comes with the sensor, an Xbox One controller and two games: Lucky’s Tale and EVE: Valkyrie.

A man ussing the Oculus Rift VR headset at the Oculus booth at CES.

The VR headsets are to be released in waves. That version, dubbed the DK1, was being sold for $350. “We are not making money on the Rift”, he added.

While it is possible to get away with a cheap CPU for playing games on a flat monitor, that is not the case for the Oculus Rift. If you don’t have one, Oculus can help you out – for another thousand dollars. “So most people would have to buy the Rift “and” a $1k+ PC to use the device”.

The future of gaming is coming in just a few months. Pre-ordering for the bundled system will start in February, but customers who order the Rift system now will qualify for the bundle price when the PC becomes available.

That’s a steep price tag for the headset, and you’ll need to shell out even more cash for a computer powerful enough to run games and experiences on the Rift.

Oculus Studios head Jason Rubin went on to argue that his company already has a solution in place for more price-conscious consumers.