The HTC Vive will cost $799

HTC Vive

PLAY IT FIRST

Try the HTC Vive at the PC Gamer Weekender in London from March 5-6.

Update: here's HTC confirming the news. I've also embedded a pointlessly sexy video of the headset.

The HTC Vive will cost $799, $200 more than the Oculus Rift. The price has leaked today ahead of its expected reveal at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona next week, and while it does sound quite pricey, the Vive comes with rather a lot of kit.

The Vive headset ships with two controllers, which you'll use in each hand, along with a couple of base stations to track your position around the room. Sticking with the 'two' theme, you'll also get two games: Job Simulator and Fantastic Contraption. If all that sounds reasonable, you can pre-order the Vive from February 29; the first units will arrive sometime in early April.

For comparison, the cheaper Rift comes with the hardware, two games, an Oculus remote and an Xbox One pad, although it doesn't include an Oculus Touch controller, which will be released later this year. The Vive, thanks to its body tracking system, needs a bit more kit than the Rift, and considering that, I think the higher price point is reasonable.

Out of my price range, but reasonable considering what the Vive is. If you need a reminder what the Vive is, have a read of Wes's hands on with a dozen games coming to HTC Vive this year, Also, if you're still on the fence, here's his handy face-off between the Vive and the Oculus Rift.

Thanks, Polygon.

TOPICS
Tom Sykes

Tom loves exploring in games, whether it’s going the wrong way in a platformer or burgling an apartment in Deus Ex. His favourite game worlds—Stalker, Dark Souls, Thief—have an atmosphere you could wallop with a blackjack. He enjoys horror, adventure, puzzle games and RPGs, and played the Japanese version of Final Fantasy VIII with a translated script he printed off from the internet. Tom has been writing about free games for PC Gamer since 2012. If he were packing for a desert island, he’d take his giant Columbo boxset and a laptop stuffed with PuzzleScript games.

Latest in Gaming Industry
A still from a video announcement of Game Informer's return, featuring the magazine's Halo 2 issue.
Game Informer is back from the dead: 'The whole team has returned'
Typing on internet search toolbar: What am I doing?
How a Microsoft exec managed to pitch Microsoft Word through the genius tactic of being able to actually use it in a 'type-off' demanded by clients: 'I was the only one who'd actually been a secretary'
Half-Life wallpaper - Gordon Freeman
Former Valve exec says the company struggled to sell Half-Life until coming up with the ultimate 'one simple trick' of marketing manoeuvres: slapping a 'Game of the Year' sticker on the box
Gabe Newell looks into the camera, behind him is a prop of a turret from Team Fortress 2.
Gabe Newell's cult of personality is intense, but a Valve exec who worked with him says his superpower is how he 'delighted in people on the team just being really good at what they did'
The Spy from Team Fortress 2 holds up a folder with an accusatory expression.
One of Valve's original executives shares a very simple secret to its success: 'You can't use up your credibility' by trying to make bad games work
Gabe Newell in a Valve promotional video, on a yacht.
Gabe Newell had his eyes on a social network in the '90s that 'was not in a games context at all'—meaning Valve-owned social media could've been a very real thing
Latest in News
Assassin's Creed Shadows promo image
Ubisoft scores a legendary ratio against Elon Musk on his own platform—which hopefully marks a final end to all the Assassin's Creed Shadows' culture war nonsense
Tzarina Katarin Bokha, the Ice Queen of Kislev
Total War: Warhammer 3 rolls out a cool Kislev overhaul, changes befitting Tzeench’s magic, new projectile units and creakier skeletal horses
An image of a golden first place award from Geoguessr
'We're actually getting GeoGuessr on Steam before GTA 6': the Google Street View puzzler arrives on Valve's platform this April
Napster client circa 1999
Former music-pirating platform Napster to be reborn rather ironically as a metaverse for musicians to connect with their fans after $207 million deal
The snazzy red and black HyperX Cloud Alpha wireless headphones float in a teal void. The microphone is attached to the headset.
The best wireless gaming headset is now even better in the Amazon Big Spring Sale, boasting a more than $50 discount
A chip being held up in an Intel fab
Intel is reportedly 'working to finalize commitments from Nvidia' as a foundry partner, suggesting gaming potential for the 18A node