Yes, you can take consolation in Oculus Rift costing $599

With controversy erupting regarding the Oculus Rift’s $599 price, Palmer Luckey describes the VR headset’s costs and apologizes for their pricing messaging.

Following Oculus VR’s confirmation that the Oculus Rift will be coming out as planned in the first quarter of the year and that preorders will soon be rolled out, the American company has now announced that they have started accepting orders for the much awaited device.

The headset packs a built-in mic and headphones, and comes in a nice black carrying case with a sensor that looks like a mic stand, an Xbox One wireless controller as well as the Oculus Remote. “Back in September we showed a picture of the first Rift to come off the assembly line and we’ve been working on manufacturing ever since”. It’s priced at $599 and will ship to 20 countries initially, starting March 28. Insiders had previously hinted that the Rift headset wasn’t going to be cheap, but they appeared to assure that it could come in the price range of $200 to $400. That version, dubbed the DK1, was being sold for $350.

Odd though that the company doesn’t actually mention whether the price is incorrect. “We are not making money on the Rift”, he added. The online store also offers a Rift compatibility tool to help users find out if their Windows PC is ready to handle the Oculus Rift. The Rift requires a high-powered gaming PC, which will force many consumers to upgrade. That’s the exact same date as the release of the finalised Oculus Rift headset. $600 is expensive, but virtual reality headsets are part of a brand new medium and much of the technology used inside the headset is being custom built for VR. “It’s called Gear VR”, he said, referring to the mobile VR headset that Oculus launched together with Samsung late previous year.