When will VR hit a reasonable price?

xXCrossfireXx

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Hello, just a quick question, I just want to know when virtual reality, specifically the HTC Vive or Oculus Rift, will most likely hit the 100-250 dollar zone. Obviously no one can predict the exact date, but what would a good prediction be? Because I'm honestly getting insanely jealous of everyone with a Vive and Rift, I just can't afford them
 

joshyboy82

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At that price? Honestly never. Supply and Demand determines economics, and right now there isn't any supply. Fast forward a bit in time, and there is now supply to the point we can walk in and buy one from an Electronics Store. By that time, particular technology will have become cheaper to produce, so they can boost sales while maintaining a profit margin. That will probably put it around $300 for the Oculus. By the time tech would've been so cheap as to drop to $150 range, production will have ceased and a new product will be out, raising the cost back to the original price. You could find used headsets or refurbs for that price, but there's no guarantee the games at current would play on your original consumer Rift, or you many not even want one, with more power and faster response and higher resolution.
 

joshyboy82

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I doubt it. Steam is still selling their controller for the same price it was announced, even though no one is buying it. They decided that Half Life 2 is good enough, and no matter how much people plea, they ignore it. My thought on the Vive is: The price it is now, it will always be, and Steam will never release a Vive 2.
 

xXCrossfireXx

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Oh so people are going for the Oculus since it's just plain out cheaper?
 

joshyboy82

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Yeah, it's a bit of a consumer quandary. You know that Steam will give the Vive love for a long time, so consumers who spent the extra dollars know they have the Steam company backing their decision. BUT! Oculus is cheaper, it's adding in the features that make the Vive better (I've heard that the new controllers for the Rift are more natural feeling than the Vive's-at additional cost, of course), and it's comprehendible. It's treated like a console cycle. We get this version now, it costs $500. In 2 years, we'll get a better version, with limited backwards compatibility, that costs $500. We all understand that cycle, so we know how the Oculus will work. And we all know how Valve is, so we get how the Vive will work. Pick the choice that supports your desired ecosystem. Both approaches have their positives and negatives. Personally, I'm a loyalist. I'd rather have a product that gets better over time and peaks, than constantly throw away perfectly good tech because a new version that's faster came out.

As an example: I'd rather have the Vive continue to exist 3 years in the future, where we have cards that push 90FPS on ULTRA, in VR, than have a new Rift that has a higher resolution display, thus limiting the detail options while the card tries to maintain 90fps. For me, A higher resolution screen isn't better than a Higher Fidelity game.

Translated: I'd rather play a Beautiful game at 1080p than a simple, dumbed down game at 4k.
 

xXCrossfireXx

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Ah cool so Vive is heading downhill it looks like
 

xXCrossfireXx

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Definitely not, my computer runs a 4790k with a 380X, unless the VR games out these days are barely demanding, I will be getting sick