Sony finally unveiled that the PlayStation VR would retail for $400 when it goes on sale later this year and Oculus VR founder Palmer Luckey weighed in, stating that it was a perfectly fair price.
While speaking to GameSpot at GDC, Luckey said that, “I know how much this technology costs. We’re building a headset, we’re trying to sell it as affordably as possible. We have some higher quality stuff, our manufactured stuff, and we have some really nice soft goods and fabric going on in ours. We also have multiple LED displays instead of just one display. But [the Oculus Rift] at $599 is actually not that far off.
“We’re selling $599 with a controller, and with the remote, and with a couple of games. If someone doesn’t own them already, [Sony] is selling a camera, a controller, and you’ve got the headset—we’re actually fairly similar in cost. They are cheaper, but I think it’s a totally fair price and they’ve definitely done a good job of keeping the cost down. Clearly that was a priority.”
When it to Oculus Rift – which releases on March 28th and will need a fairly powerful computer to use – Luckey said that, “I think [the markets] are almost completely different. People who buy a Rift are people who already own a high-end PC or are willing to buy a high-end PC for VR. People who buy a PlayStation VR are people who already own a PlayStation, or PlayStation VR is something that convinces them to buy a PlayStation that they probably already wanted for other reasons, not VR reasons. I don’t think there are many PC gamers that are going to buy a PlayStation and PlayStation VR from scratch. And I don’t think there are many PlayStation gamers that are going to buy a Rift and a high-end PC. They’re kind of very separate markets at this point.”
What are your thoughts on the price? Let us know in the comments.