Since the bombshell price drop earlier this week by Facebook’s Oculus, a number of theories have emerged regarding the Rift’s temporary $400 price.
Is Oculus preparing a second generation and hoping to clear stock? Is Oculus struggling so much that Facebook is dropping the price of the Rift in a last ditch effort to save it? Is Facebook under pressure to move units fast because they are concerned about a ZeniMax injunction after the $500 million judgment earlier this year, as China’s regional president of Vive suggested in this tweet:
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I don’t think there’s any cause for the price drop, other than competitive aggression at a smart time and the fulfillment of a promise by Oculus’ earliest team members to lower the price of quality VR hardware as much as possible. With the reveal that Oculus is working on a low-cost standalone headset, we’ve also heard the company isn’t releasing new hardware this year — so clearing stock to make room for a new device isn’t true. In addition, the company has now confirmed after the sale is over Rift will carry a price of $500 for the Rift and Touch package.
Then Oculus CEO Brendan Iribe said in 2013 it’d love to give away the Rift for free: “We’d love it to be free one day, so how do we get it as close to free as possible? Obviously it won’t be that in the beginning. We’re targeting the $300 price point right now but there’s the potential that it could get much less expensive with a few different relationships and strategies.”
It is easy to forget that many of Oculus’ earliest employees were big fans of Ready Player One by Ernest Cline. In the novel, kids in the future get free VR headsets to attend school in a virtual world, while more expensive equipment can be purchased for specific use cases like full body immersion. Here’s a video Oculus posted about Cline’s visit, which describes how some of the earliest team members joined the company because of the book:
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Source: Venture Beat