My hopes for virtual reality are high and the Oculus Rift consumer edition has me so excited, for everything from EVE Valkyrie to Elite Dangerous, I can’t wait to get my hands on it. However, I think one of the biggest problems we’re going to see from Oculus’s end is going to be day one supply. Much like the Wii, I don’t know if there is going to be enough supply for the demand, especially considering the price is likely to be at the $199 to $299 price point.
The development kit was priced at $350, meaning the consumer edition should be a little bit cheaper. I’m going to predict it’ll probably be $299, although I wouldn’t rule out a $199 price shift once the technology has aged, unless they intend to release the device and get it into homes. The Gear VR is at the $199 price point, so I don’t think they’ll want to price themselves for what is basically a very fancy smartphone holder for some very fancy smartphones.
From there, demand is likely to be very high and I’m not sure of supply. I have a feeling that right now they’re trying to ramp up production, which is why they’re waiting to announce the release date and pricing, to make sure they have enough units in stock and release as soon as they possibly can, while having enough supply to get them out the door.
So I really predict that day one, they’ll be rather hard to get your hands on, but after let’s say… a few weeks, they’ll probably come with a second wave that’ll hopefully sate demand. The DK2 was in stock for the longest time, on and off, although to get your hands on one used, you’re looking at more than $500 right now.
Which is odd, since the DK2’s value won’t be nearly that high once the consumer edition is out. You can correct me if I’m wrong, but the DK2 won’t be on the same level as the consumer edition, which we can assume is already ready for prime time, as its been shown at several events and used by developers for their near finished products.
As for where virtual reality is going, I have a strong feeling that it’ll be not only its own genre, but it’ll take off big time. It’s much like a console, but the technology is super legit (the consumer edition is very, very sharp, and I’ve enjoyed every second with my hands on it). So you’re going to see people who enjoy plugging in and basically living a quasi Ready Set Run / Snowcrash /etc. type experience, but they might not have gaming computers, so there is that.
Then there is sort of the odd Playstation VR, which is a similar experience, but with a console, and with games that are going to run at perfectly fine with it. That’s going to be something to watch too, because, I feel like virtual reality and consoles are a very good match considering the controller plus headset = oh yeah, fun times.
Anyway, that’s my predictions for now. I feel like within the next month we’ll have a launch date and you can count me excited.
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