The Oculus Rift was $600 when it launched in spring 2016, and now that's the price of the Rift and the Oculus Touch controllers, which previously cost an extra $200. Oculus announced on Wednesday that it's lowering the price of the headset and controllers by $100 each, making the new combined price $600 (technically $598, as the Rift is now $499 and the Touch controllers are $99).
Jason Rubin, Oculus's VP of content, told me that Oculus sees price as the biggest barrier to consumer VR adoption. He noted that both mobile and PlayStation VR have shipped more units than PC VR at lower prices, and that in playtests and surveys, price is always the first thing people bring up as a barrier to buying a Rift.
Rubin said that hardware costs for producing the Rift have decreased over the past year, and the the new COO who joined last year has experience working with hardware partners to lower the costs. He wouldn't comment on how much profit or loss Oculus makes per-headset, but said that $600 was a "sustainable" price that Oculus was "comfortable with as a business."
"We think this shifts us into second gear," Rubin said, noting that there are more than 100 Oculus Touch games already in its store, with another wave of games on the way this year.
We wrote about one of the ones we played at GDC this week: Killing Floor Incursion, which Steven described enthusiastically: "At one point I had an axe in one hand and a severed sword-hand in the the other. While in reality I probably looked like I was losing it, inside of VR I felt like Geralt of goddamn Rivia."
You can read more about the price cut on Oculus's blog. Touch purchasers who activated their controllers in the past 30 days will be able to apply for a $50 refund off the price.
Update: Oculus and Epic also announced today that Epic's VR shooter Robo Recall is available today, free with the Touch controllers. Check out the trailer below.
Correction: The article originally stated that recent Touch purchasers could apply for a $100 credit, not a $50 credit.
Tomb Raider developer Crystal Dynamics lays off 17 employees 'to better align our current business needs and the studio's future success'
As layoffs and studio closures continue to deathroll the western AAA industry, analyst points out 5 of 8 major Japanese companies hit all-time share prices this year
