Will high-priced headsets kill mass-market virtual reality in its crib?

Any excuse to show Ars' Sebastian Anthony in a Vive headset is a good one. (credit: Sebastian Anthony)

When Oculus announced that the first consumer edition of the Rift headset would launch at $599 (rather than the $300 to $350 the dev kits cost), many potential consumers and observers experienced some well-justified sticker shock. So when word leaked yesterday that Valve and HTC's Vive VR headset would launch in April at $799, it was easy to assume that they had just priced themselves out of the market.

But that's probably an overreaction when you consider the potential added value the Vive brings over the Rift. After all, the Vive package comes with two completely trackable handheld controllers as well as the "Lighthouse" laser boxes that help measure the positions of those controllers and the headset itself. It's hard to overstate just how important this kind of built-in hand-tracking is to making a compelling VR experience. Being able to simply reach out and instantly grab something in the virtual world is much more direct and intuitive than fiddling with the kind of controllers that have been designed for 2D monitors.

Oculus hasn't priced out its similar Oculus Touch controllers, which won't launch until the second half of the year, but when you consider that a plain old Xbox One controller routinely retails for $50, it's easy to see the Touch package adding an extra $100 or more to the Rift's price (especially considering that the Touch system requires a second Oculus camera).

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