The Oculus Rift Consumer Model does not have a release date but thanks to Oculus VR co-founder Nate Mitchell, it does have a price.
When speaking with Eurogamer, Mitchell confirmed that the Oculus Rift Cosumer Model will be sold for around $200-$400, be cautioned that nothing is set in stone. “That could slide in either direction depending on scale, preorders, the components we end up using, [or] business negotiations,” he said. Oculus Rift creator Palmer Luckey then added “Whatever it is, it’s going to be as cheap as possible.”
Previously the Oculus Rift was aiming to release the consumer model for $300. With this news, it seems the final price may go up, or better yet go down. The Oculus Rift development kit, called DK2 sells for $350 so it’s fair to assume that the consumer model will be cheaper. With that said, the consumer model is apparently going to offer a “significant increase” in resolution from the current development kit model, and the refresh rate will rise from 75Hz to 90Hz “or higher” which may end up costing them more money which would of course result in a higher price point. The final design though, is also not set in stone.
The Eurogamer’s interesting and in depth interview with Luckey and Mitchell also brought up sony’s answer to the Oculus Rift, Project Morpheus. When asked about how much they’ve changed Oculus when sony announced it’s own VR headest, Mitchell said “basically zero percent.” Luckey reminds us that Project Morpheus is only a tech demonstration at the moment and it’s possible that the hardware is never even released. He says “even if they do decide to make it into a real product that ships, it’s on PlayStation 4; we are not on PlayStation 4 so it doesn’t really change our strategy or what we’re making.”
Mitchell also added that they can’t really draw any inspiration from Project Morpheus for the Oculus Rift because sony took “a lot of ideas” from Oculus’ design and implemented them into the design and makeup of the Project Morpheus headset. Mitchell did go on to say that if sony were to officially release Project Morpheus it could be a good thing for Oculus Rift because it will bring more traction and attention to virtual reality in general.
“If someone wants to make a VR game they’ll be able to ship it on the Rift and potentially the Morpheus to 175 per-cent more people, something like that,” Mitchell said. “That’s really exciting. I’m actually optimistic that they will bring it to market, but we’ll see.”
When asked about the commercial design of the Oculus Rift all Mitchell said was that he thinks it will be recognizable as the Oculus. He also teased that it may come with a big new feature like how DK2 added head tracking to the platform. Perhaps with the possibility of Microsoft’s eye tracking headset Fove being a reality, they may be thinking of adding a similar feature into the Oculus’ commercial design. Mitchell ends the statement with a simple “maybe.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6bB1lKBzgs
What do you think of the price point? How much would you pay for an Oculus Rift? Let us know in the comments!
