LAS VEGAS – Virtual Reality in the home is finally here, but the harsh reality is it will cost a lot more than expected.
Oculus VR, which was purchased by Facebook in March, 2014 for $2 billion, has announced it will begin to ship the long-awaited Rift on March 28 at a price of $599. The price has produced some sticker shock at CES since Oculus VR founder Palmer Lucky had previously mentioned the headset would be priced around $350. It gets even pricier when the powerful, expensive gaming PC required to run the headset gets factored in. The Rift includes the headset with built-in headphones and mic, sensor, and an Xbox One controller.
Rival HTC is set to release the consumer versions of its Vive headset in April, and Sony demonstrated its PlayStation VR at CES but has not provided a release date except that it’s coming sometime this year.
Sony, whose PlayStation 4 is approaching 36 million units sold globally, has a huge advantage over its other VR competitors when it comes to potential install base. Every PS4 sold is capable of running the PlayStation VR. All told, the cost to run the Rift on a PC is likely to be double that of running Sony’s VR solution.
The downside of going with the PlayStation VR is that gamers are trapped into the Sony’s closed gaming ecosystem. Sony says its developers are working on 100 or more titles for its forthcoming virtual PlayStation VR reality headset.
A large number of PC games are already compatible with the Rift headset. Games come in two categories of compatibility: native, with Oculus support built in, and available, with VR compatibility provided by third-party solutions.
I was able to demo the PlayStation VR at CES which places you in the front seat of a roller coaster car where you shoot at objects being thrown at you by an assortment of monsters and spirits. The game was easy to play using the controller supplied and being fully immersed in a world where everything is trying to kill you was a genuine thrill. I only played for a few minutes but can report that the visuals were clear and I experienced no motion sickness.
What I think will hold back VR adoption in the short-term is that it’s largely a solitary experience, not a social one compared to online gaming. Once engineers work out a way to share the immersive VR experience with friends, they will have created a phenomenon that will attract the masses, not just gamers with deep pockets.
