The HTC Vive VR headset has been reduced from its original price of $799 to $599. Although this is quite a large price decrease, as $200 could net someone a PS4 or XBox One in some areas, does this make the technology a viable option for the everyday consumer?
Oculus Rift recently receive a $200 price cut as well
One can speculate whether HTC and Valve's decision to reduce the price for their product is a reaction to the recent price cut seen for the Oculus Rift, which is available to purchase for $399. This claim was denied by Rikard Steiber, president of Viveport; saying that as the leaders of the market, they always planned to make "high-end VR be available to everyone."
Upon release, the HTC Vive outsold the Oculus Rift at a rate of 2 is to 1, despite the much higher price point.
Ignoring other available devices, such as the PlayStation VR or the Samsung Gear VR, the numbers do suggest that the Vive is the preferred brand for consumers seeking that high-end virtual reality experience. This is despite the Oculus Rift launching with a more impressive lineup of games.
Speaking of games
Viveport's device is definitely impressive, at least in terms of hardware. Unlike its competitor, the addition of the wall mounts for room level VR suggested that this is a piece of equipment that is not just taking into account the current virtual reality scene but has already taken steps to ensure that it will viable for years down the line.
Despite that, there certainly was a notable lack of truly memorable games during the launch window, with the HTC Vive receiving no exclusive games.
There were a handful of fun titles, like "Job Simulator", which allowed the user to get accustomed to the virtual reality experience; but, there was a lack of anything particularly eye-catching.
Over the course of a few months, that has started to change, with more and more titles coming out which are tailor-made for the VR experience.
Some notable entries include "Serious Sam: The Last Hope", "Super Hot", the short but exhilarating "Batman: Arkham VR", "The Assembly" and "Vanishing Realms". Although the catalog is far from expressive, one has to take into account that we are in uncharted territories. Sony and Microsoft proved that even the launch of a normal console could be quite slow out of the gate, with developers needing to get used to the hardware, so designing a virtual reality experience might feel like a series of trial and error.
