But one detail that was conspicuously absent from the event was the price of the headset. Well, after the event, PC Gamer caught up with VP of Product Nate Mitchell and tried to dig up some more info. While he didn’t reveal a final price, he did say that it will cost “at least $300.”
As for what will be in the box for that price, consumers will get the headset, sensor, and Xbox One controller. If one thinks of the Oculus Rift as a console or a platform, even though it’s technically a peripheral, than a price tag of over $300 puts it slightly below that of the two big players in the game console space, which makes sense. But again, consumers will need a PC that costs nearly $1,000, or of course more, to make it all go.
Of course, we don’t know exactly how much more than $300 the consumer Oculus Rift will be, but last year Oculus did say that headsets would be in the range of $200 to $400, which aligns broadly with this latest bit of information.
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Interestingly, while we know that the device is coming in Q1 2016, Oculus isn’t taking pre-orders for it, which is shocking in an industry that begs for pre-orders around every corner. On this Mitchell said, “there isn’t a big reason to take your money too far ahead of the device.” He compared it to Apple’s model of announcing and releasing products, where consumers don’t have to hand over a large sum of money and wait months for something to be delivered.
Unfortunately, no price range was given for the Oculus Touch controller, which is scheduled to ship sometime in Q2, well after the headset itself hits store shelves.
