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600 dollars is a Seriously. Bad. Mistake.

thornfoot
Explorer
Although you will surely get 600 dollars out of me and the other early tech adopters, that price point is truly short sighted.

The general public is not going to want to buy a CV1 at that price -- and they are where the real money is at. You will grab an extra few million dollars profit out of the hardware while losing hundreds of millions in software sales.

That is where the people that have spent their time and effort making programs for the rift expect to make their money. You just cut their user base down significantly. That kind of pisses me off.

Oculus, you all but just handed the VR race to the Vive'. That just blows my mind.

The bad press you are about to receive is frightening to contemplate. It will definitely hurt if not outright destroy Oculus's reputation. It may even put a damper the whole VR revolution.
246 REPLIES 246

przecinek
Rising Star
Let's face it. They have already sold out their stock. Shipping date is now: May. It will reach June or July soon enough.

So even with this crazy price, market so far seems to love it. They have killed a big portion of it - true, but people are still paying regardless. It's just such a steep increase from DK2 most of us have hard time explaining what went wrong.

I agree a bareback option: no games, no pads/remote/ cardboard box is what I would want right now. Also all this 700euro drama wouldn't happen if the price wouldn't be as high lol :roll:

Kr55
Explorer
So, I guess considering how the delivery date has shifted back multiple months a few hours into pre-orders, they did pick a decent price point.

Blyss4226
Rising Star
"Kr55" wrote:
So, I guess considering how the delivery date has shifted back multiple months a few hours into pre-orders, they did pick a decent price point.


I agree. I wish more people would take that into consideration.

They put people off yes, but apparently it's still selling. From a business standpoint at least that makes it a sound decision. From this end, I'm sure some people are quite upset. But a business isn't a person. It doesn't care about our feelings. It wants to make money. If it didn't it wouldn't be a business very long.
Gaming: Intel i7 3770k @ 4.2Ghz | R9 290 | 16GB RAM | 240GB SSD | 1 TB HDD Server: AMD FX 6300 @ 4.4Ghz | GT 610 | 8GB RAM | 240GB SSD | 320GB HDD

Dammit
Honored Guest
I was super excited for CV1 leading up to this announcement. Don't care now. I've been waiting for quality VR since the 90's. I can keep waiting. All this time Oculus saying they were going to sell it as cheap as possible and make their money on the software... yeah right. I feel like I just got Obama'd. I'll spend that money on something else. By the time the price comes down to something realistic there will most likely be some competitors on the market anyway.

steveoz32
Expert Protege
I agree, there was a group of five of us that were waiting to get the cv1. I'm the only person that has gone ahead (as far as I know) and I nearly gave up after all the errors in the store today.

I sols my dk2 a year ago, and continued with cardboard and playing around with streaming to mobile devices. For those wanting a taste of VR, mobile devices with a comfortable headset and a 360 controller with a cheap £3 otg cable gives a rest experience. Even vanguard V looks and plays real nice on lower powered mobiles.

The problem here is that all along Palmer and the team have set the expectation that the kit will be around the 350 price point.

It would seem they knew it would be an issue, why else would they not announce the price until people are there already geared up to order. At that point most people have already committed to getting it, and I bet you that a huge percentage of people who ordered did so whilst being unhappy and concerned with the price.

Yes they will have sold a lot of units today. But, I feel they may have lost a huge number of potential customers at this price point.

The people I know are going to continue to play with mobile vr. The display on the rift isn't even that much better than mid range handsets.

It's disappointing, I'm not sure why the price hike, but they did a bad job if managing the PR on this, I think a massive number of people will feel cheated. If they came clean on the price a while ago people could have got over it.

Gigantoad
Adventurer
Hmm yeah the gamepad feels a bit strange now. Nobody would have cared if they threw that in for free (and maybe they did?), but with the high price the added fluff is upsetting. The package is nonsensical. On the one hand we have clearly enthusiast level pricing, on the other we have a controller included that no enthusiast is going to need, nor is a very good choice to control VR experiences to begin with. I've always preferred mouse/keyboard in VR so far, unless of course it was some cockpit/flying kind of thing. And naturally I already have a gamepad too.

McTurbo
Honored Guest
"Blyss4226" wrote:
"Kr55" wrote:
So, I guess considering how the delivery date has shifted back multiple months a few hours into pre-orders, they did pick a decent price point.


I agree. I wish more people would take that into consideration.

They put people off yes, but apparently it's still selling. From a business standpoint at least that makes it a sound decision. From this end, I'm sure some people are quite upset. But a business isn't a person. It doesn't care about our feelings. It wants to make money. If it didn't it wouldn't be a business very long.


it was always going to sell.. every developer, media market. entertainment show and tech blogger is going to be lined up to get one.. and then the enthusiast crowd is right in there with them... the question is .. how long will it sell for..and how many units... they hit 1 million units this month i will eat all the bitching i have done today and say damn.. its got a chance.. but i dont think it will get even close.. the price is just to high.. and that small base is going to have an impact in the long run for all of us.

pedrw
Expert Protege
Exactly. This wasn't $2B in funding. It was a payout to the owners and investors for Facebook to acquire Oculus.

The price surprised me, and it priced me out for this first release. Am I disappointed, yes. Will I still get a VR, yes. But I can happily wait 6-12 months and see what shakes out in the VR market. The price point made me reflect on whether I want to commit to the Rift early. You know what, I certainly will not have any buyers remorse like I did with my Xbox 360 HD-DVD drive. Let also remember, the first to market blu-ray player the Samsung BD-P1000 was released at $999, and there were a whole 5 movies available to watch. The high-end early adopter always pays a high price, and often doesn't get the most featured release.

There's still a whole 359 days left in 2016 to see what shakes out in the VR market folks.



Congratulation, you are the most conformist and boring person in the world! His prize is a shoe sole to lick! Bon appetit!

poita
Honored Guest
"Blyss4226" wrote:
"Kr55" wrote:
So, I guess considering how the delivery date has shifted back multiple months a few hours into pre-orders, they did pick a decent price point.


I agree. I wish more people would take that into consideration.

They put people off yes, but apparently it's still selling. From a business standpoint at least that makes it a sound decision. From this end, I'm sure some people are quite upset. But a business isn't a person. It doesn't care about our feelings. It wants to make money. If it didn't it wouldn't be a business very long.


That is a shortsighted view I think. Sure, they may have 'sold out', but the price point is going to be a shock to the general public, and may stall VR adoption, which will make developers think twice before committing to development, and quite possibly kill VR as a viable platform.

The international pricing is also crazy, if you think 600 dollars is a mistake, try USD$800 for Australians, Europeans and Canadians. It just is not going to get enough sales for developers to commit to developing for the platform in any serious way.

Anonymous
Not applicable
A very big mistake considering that you have to fork out probably another $100 for the Touch controllers in the Summer. :shock:

If HTC have the Vive retailing for 599 including their controllers then the Oculus Rift will be a flop of the highest order.

It wouldn't be so bad if it was only $599/£499/€699 but you've also got shipping and Customs charges on top of that too.

Going to be interesting to see what HTC do with their pricing now that they've seen the overwhelmingly bad feedback all over the internet.