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HTC finally gives in! The Vive price cut has arrived

Zenbane
MVP
MVP
This news just came in...

HTC Vive Now $599, Gets A Permanent $200 Price Cut

all that technology came at a premium price that has, until right now,
remained at $799 for the Vive headset, two motion controllers, and two
base stations for tracking. Other than a few flash sales and minor
discounts it’s been stuck at that price.

The updated package, priced at $599 for everything mentioned above, includes download codes for Richie’s Plank Experience, Everest VR, and Tilt Brush on Steam, as well as a one-month subscription to Viveport. The Viveport service has over 200 apps available, but you can only pick five to get access to over the course of a single month. It’s sort of like selectively renting content.


Interesting news considering it wasn't very long ago that HTC executives explained why a Vive price cut was unnecessary. Those reasons seem to still apply today, giving rise to insight that perhaps HTC feels the pressure from the aggressive Oculus pricing in order to remain viable (and alive) in the high-end VR Market.

From E3 2017:

“we haven’t dropped the core price of the Vive because we think it offers the best room-scale [experience], hands down.”

O’Brien elaborated further on HTC’s perspective on the Vive’s price, saying that there are certainly price-sensitive customers who are looking for the lowest cost option, but there are also ‘value-sensitive customers who are willing to pay more if they feel they are getting better value out of their purchase;’ the latter is where a large portion of VR early-adopters fall, he said.


Sources:

https://uploadvr.com/htc-vive-now-599-gets-permanent-200-price-cut/

https://www.roadtovr.com/htc-explains-vive-price-cost-lowered-cut-discount/


*EDIT*
Latest damaging articles/discussions:

https://forums.oculus.com/community/discussion/comment/552854/#Comment_552854

465 REPLIES 465

Anonymous
Not applicable
Don't the Vive light houses have a wider field of view than the Rift sensors? I'm sure I've read somewhere that the Rift's sensors have a "tall" view, similar to a phone camera held portrait. And that the nature of the Vive lighthouses emitting lasers means their coverage, per light house, is better than the IR cameras of the Rift sensors.

Also I've read that the actual tracking technology of the Vive gives a higher quality track, so even with partial occlusion you might still get a solid track from a few sensors catching lasers. On the other had the Rift is effectively taking image data from cameras and tracking contrasted points in order to calculate the track. I could have this quite wrong though, it's just my understanding from what I've read.

JohnnyDioxin
Expert Trustee

Zenbane said:


It's because the two-sensor setup is always showcased as front-facing. Even during the Oculus Setup tutorial, the video has the two sensors up front:

When I got my replacement Rift and ran the newer set-up, it did say you could set up the sensors at 180° to each other (diagonally) and gave that as an optional (though experimental) set-up.

Don't know if it's changed again since.

i5 9600k @4.5GHz; 16GB DDR4 3200; 6xSSD; RTX2080ti; Gigabyte Z390D Mobo
Rift CV1; Index; Quest; Quest 2

HiCZoK
Protege

Sharpfish said:

I'm really not trying to be an ass about this but I honestly wouldn't (re)buy Vive even if it was $300 let alone $600. Don't like the controls, don't like the ergonomics, don't like the SDE and it feels far from fully realised/finished (unlike rift). The only flaw they have in common is god-rays (of differing types) everything else feels 'sorted' on rift and 'unfinished' on vive.

Either way, it's still great news for VR as some facebook haters will jump on Vive now which is good, the more users in PC VR the better. I'd still advise anyone I knew to go rift though. Gen 1 is done and rift is the best we have until gen 2.


Exactly. Rift is just a better product.
I realized yesterday after sitting for 3 hours in oculus medium, that it all just works without me thinking about it. The screen quality and touch controllers are amazing.

Zenbane
MVP
MVP

Brixmis said:


Zenbane said:


It's because the two-sensor setup is always showcased as front-facing. Even during the Oculus Setup tutorial, the video has the two sensors up front:

When I got my replacement Rift and ran the newer set-up, it did say you could set up the sensors at 180° to each other (diagonally) and gave that as an optional (though experimental) set-up.

Don't know if it's changed again since.


I believe you are correct; I remember something similar. Although I remember it more as an "FYI" as opposed to the more advertised front-facing. I should probably run through the tutorial again soon.

Zenbane
MVP
MVP
Back on topic,

Interesting news regarding HTC's stock: it's going
up! HTC has been on a decline for a long time now, but thanks to their
ability to copy everything Facebook and Oculus performs...

HTC Shares Rocket Following Vive Price Cut

HTC
is obviously hoping that the $200 price cut for its HTC Vive, announced
on Monday, will provide a big boost to sales, but it’s also boosted
something else: the company’s stock.

Share prices jumped from
$62.50 NTD (just over $2 USD) in early Monday to $67.70 ($2.24) by the
end of the day. That’s a 9.09% rise. There’s been a slight decline since
(prices sit at $65.40 at the time of writing), but it’s still a big
bump.

Article:
https://uploadvr.com/htc-shares-rocket-following-vive-price-cut/


I hope the HTC exec's at least sent Zuckerberg a Gift Basket.


Although I suppose we can't really credit HTC's rise in stock to their Vive price cut, 'cause Atmos said so:

I don't care what their mobile division is doing. If you read my last
post I already shown you HTC Vive Corp is a seperate entity. It's like
say ooh look at Sony they're not selling 3D TV's any more their whole
Corp must be burning.

https://forums.oculus.com/community/discussion/comment/549782/#Comment_549782


Someone needs to get the word out... HTC's stock has nothing to do with their VR offerings anymore :#

vannagirl
Consultant
have HTC made any games for VR

Serious question
Look, man. I only need to know one thing: where they are. 

elboffor
Consultant
That wpuld be no. But they did make the first smart phone i bought
Htc desire hd
Not only was it the first smart phone i had, but also the first smart phone i had which screen got smashed 😞
This is my forum signature.
There are many others like it, but this is mine.

vannagirl
Consultant
Question answers are kind of lame
I was just asking if they did, it only just occur to me.

Is no need to be so defensive
Look, man. I only need to know one thing: where they are. 

Zenbane
MVP
MVP

Atmos73 said:

I'll add Rifts best selling game 'The Climb' to the list made by Crytek. My point is all the Rifts best games were never actually made by Oculus.


You don't actually know what the Rifts best games are because you don't own a Rift. Even if you did manage to play all of the games made by Oculus, you would never allow yourself to admit which of them are great. The same way you didn't allow yourself to admit that the Vive played a role in HTC's ongoing quarterly losses.

 You deny facts/reality, and then back yourself in a corner... because now that people are reporting stock increases as a result of HTC's Vive price cut, you can't acknowledge it due to your earlier fact rejection routine.

Silly stuff 😄

Zenbane
MVP
MVP

Atmos73 said:

People in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.

Oh, is it random one-liner time? K!






Atmos73 said:
It just makes me laugh some times how FB bought Oculus and sold the Rift. They bribed and payed off Devs to prop up their store without lifting a finger for VR but here we are where people question every single thing HTC do or have done in the past while loving FB fire sales for a VR kit that was getting outsold 2:1.

Well, that was all fiction. What should make you laugh is someone who first rejects that a company's product line plays a role in its profit loss... and then is later forced to read about how that exact same product line increased its stock. Now that's quality humor.


Atmos73 said:
People need to concentrate more on what Oculus are doing because

Like HTC? 'Cause HTC is concentrating on what Oculus is doing, which is why they have copied everything from HMD design (Vive comfort upgrades), hand-controllers (Vive Knuckles for finger tracking), custom library (VivePort), and market share strategies (Vive price cuts).

You need to concentrate on what HTC is doing. Plus facts. Concentrate on facts too 😛