When it was announced that the Oculus Rift would cost $599, everyone gasped at how expensive it was. Oculus’ founder is trying his best to explain why the price is so high.
Oculus founder, Palmer Luckey, held a every extensive Reddit AMA. He tried his best to explain why the Oculus Rift is priced at $599. What is interesting is that the company will still not make a profit selling it that high.
He confirmed: “To be perfectly clear, we don’t make money on the Rift.“. He then stated that adding the Xbox One controller to the bundle didn’t add any additional costs. He feels people can just sell it on eBay if they don’t want it.
He explained that the reason it costs so much is because of the “two built-for-VR OLED displays with very high refresh rate and pixel density, a very precise tracking system, mechanical adjustment systems that must be lightweight, durable, and precise, and cutting-edge optics that are more complex to manufacture than many high end DSLR lenses“.
Basically, all that technical gear costs a lot to produce. He feels a lot of other consumer electronics are around the $599 price range. He notes things like phones and mid-range TV’s are around that price.
Palmer then concluded that the one thing they failed most was communication and not the price. The assumption that the Oculus Rift would cost $349 was a misunderstanding.
With Palmer’s long and convoluted explanation, do you still feel the Oculus Rift is worth $599?
Published: Jan 7, 2016 08:00 am