Oculus Rift+Touch is Now $200 Cheaper. Moves Like This Will Bring Big Changes to the Industry.

The move is reminiscent of the original iPhone.

Facebook and Oculus announced Wednesday that they’re going to drop the price of the Oculus Rift and Touch packages to only $598. That’s a $200 price decrease. That’s 25% off and 100% in the right direction.

25% off and 100% in the right direction

I’ve been saying it for months — the cost of VR has to go down in order for customers to enter the space. The HTC Vive started last year at $799. That price tag, along with the purchase of a high end gaming PC and all the peripherals, causes the final cost of the system to be around $2000. That’s far too much for the average consumer to experiment with something new.

A lot of hardware and a lot of money

And we have to remember that VR is still an experiment. Most consumers I talk to haven’t tried it yet — some haven’t even heard about it. It’s up to us to not only cater to these individuals, but work to excite them.

And this is why I’ve love the Samsung Gear VR system. It’s inexpensive (only $100), it adds features to an already incredible product that people already own (the Samsung Galaxy phones) and its market is full of good, free content to let consumers play around with the medium for the first time. It’s by far not the best way for consumers to interact with the medium, but its certainly a fantastic introduction.

Announced this week, the inclusion of a remote will add a new layer to Gear experiences

So when I heard news that Oculus was dropping their price this morning, I got excited. Not because I can get my hands on one for cheaper (that’s one piece) but because everyone else can too. And with more consumers being able to enter the space, more developers will be enticed to create content. With more content, comes more competition. More competition brings higher quality titles.

And so the cycle for great quality content will begin.

But it all begins with bringing the cost of entry down. Steve Jobs once said that the key price point for their iPod and iPhones is $199. This is true. The first iPhone started at $599 — and it didn’t hit mass adoption until they lowered the price the next year to $199. VR will follow suit. As soon as the tools required hit a low enough price tag, the cycle will start.

And that’s when things will truly become interesting.

Thanks for reading! You’re the reason I do this. If you liked it, please leave some love below. If you hated it, let me know why in the comments. Together we can shape the VR industry :)