Oculus Rift for $ 599. Why so expensive?

The guy, apparently, has extra $ 599 for points and $ 1500 for a PC

Recently, the manufacturer of video glasses Oculus Rift announced the cost of the consumer version of the device. As it turned out, the gadget will cost $ 599. After the prices were announced, many potential buyers were, if not shocked, unpleasantly surprised. All counted on a price of about $ 350 - as much as the version for the developer, the DK2 dev kit.

Why is it so expensive? Let me remind you that it is necessary to take into account not so much the price of points, but also the cost of a PC that will “pull” the functionality of the device - and this is about $ 1,500. Gamers, of course, do not have to worry - their gaming PCs are about the same and cost, but the performance will be enough with a margin (in most cases). But Oculus Rift can be used not only for games. In general, it turned out to be expensive, for many it is very expensive. And the CEO of the company on Reddit tried to explain why the company is asking for such a lot of money.

The thing is that the final version of the video glasses has received many new features and capabilities . For example, this is an advanced head tracking system, headphones, microphone, removable interfaces and new high-quality components.
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According to the company, the reality is that to ensure the complete comfort of the user Oculus Rift have to use expensive components. And even in this case, the company does not make a profit when selling devices.

The most expensive item when creating an Oculus Rift is embedded OLED displays with a high refresh rate and pixel density. Next comes an accurate tracking system, a mechanical adjustment system that needs to be simple, reliable and accurate, as well as sophisticated optics.

The same innovations that many users call useless, like a controller for the Xbox One or hi-end audio headphones, do not affect the final price of the device. According to the developers, for $ 599 the buyer gets a lot, much more than the buyer of the phone for the same price or TV.

Plus, the price will not decrease with time. Perhaps there will be a slight decrease, but you should not expect a significant reduction in the cost of the Oculus Rift.

But the reaction of Notch to the news about the price of the gadget:



As for the recommended PC configuration for the consumer version of the Oculus Rift, it is:

• NVIDIA GTX 970 / AMD 290 or more advanced card;
• Intel i5-4590 equivalent or newer processor;
• 8GB + RAM;
• Compatible HDMI 1.3 video output;
• 2x USB 3.0;
• Windows 7 SP1 or newer OS.

You can use and not such a powerful system, and play, for example, not at maximum settings.

As for the controllers for Oculus Rift, their price has not yet been announced.