HTC has hinted that Valve’s Vive could be the priciest VR headset we’ve seen so far.
Speaking to MCV, HTC’s Connected Products Marketing Executive Director Jeff Gattis said the firm hopes to ‘deliver the most premium VR experience the world has seen’.
He went on to describe the Vive as being ‘at the high end’ of the VR market, and explained that the price point would reflect that.
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HTC and Valve announced their virtual reality headset earlier this month, taking the fight to rival offerings like the Oculus Rift, Samsung Gear VR, and Sony’s Project Morpheus.
Since its unveiling, the HTC Vive headset has received universal praise from reviewers who’ve had early hands-on with the device.
Assuming the final product lives up to expectations, the only real risk Valve’s Vive runs is pricing the device too high and turning consumers off.
Related: Why SteamVR and the HTC Vive will win the VR war
The current Oculus Rift development kit costs $350, with Oculus targeting a price point somewhere between $200 and $400 for the final consumer release.
Sony hasn’t announced pricing for Project Morpheus just yet, but it’s expected to be similarly high end.
Samsung is currently peddling its Gear VR Innovator Edition for £169, making it one of the cheapest big-name headsets available. You do need a pricy Galaxy smartphone to make it work, however, which reduces its standalone value significantly.
Unfortunately, it could be the case that the HTC Vive outprices all of these headsets, landing north of $300 or $400.
The HTC Vive is expected to land around Christmas, with pricing details due shortly before.
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
