Oculus Announces Six Week Sale of $399 Rift + Touch Bundle
by Nate Oh on July 10, 2017 8:45 PM EST- Posted in
- VR
- Oculus Rift
- Oculus
Update: On 7/14/17, Oculus permanently reduced the cost of the Rift + Touch bundle to $499. Meanwhile, the bundle is still available for $399 for the next six weeks.
In the spirit of summer sales and their own “Summer of Rift,” Facebook subsidiary Oculus VR has announced that the Rift + Touch bundle is now on sale for $399. The bundle includes the headset, a pair of Touch controllers, two sensors, an Xbox One wireless controller, a remote, and cables, including connectors for Rock Band VR guitar controllers.
Oculus also offers seven free games for the Rift: Lucky's Tale, Medium, Toybox, Quill, Dead and Buried, Dragon Front, and Robo Recall. For those lacking Rift-compatible titles, these selections provide a simple way to game on the Rift immediately.
The sale will take place for six weeks and follows the permanent price adjustments in March that cut the Rift + Touch bundle from $798 to $598. This competitively positions the Rift + Touch bundle against the $799 HTC Vive headset/controllers bundle and the $499 Sony PlayStation VR headset/controllers bundle. As it stands, Rift’s shipments, cumulatively as well as for 2017 Q1, lag behind the Vive’s according to SuperData, while both are behind the PSVR; at the top of the heap is the more affordable Oculus-powered Samsung Gear VR.
According to Fortune, Oculus vice president of content Jason Rubin stated that “This is a good time to test a mass-market price,” where Oculus is considering whether to permanently drop the price. If so, the Rift would finally arrive at the “$350 ballpark” that was originally targeted. As PC-based high-end VR devices, both the Rift and Vive require VR-capable computers, which carry a hefty price of their own.
As a reminder, Oculus offers the following recommended and minimum PC specifications to power Rift:
| Oculus Rift PC Specifications | |||
| Recommended | Minimum | ||
| CPU | Intel i5-4590 / AMD Ryzen 5 1500X | Intel i3-6100 / AMD Ryzen 3 1200, FX4350 | |
| GPU (AMD) | Radeon RX 480 / R9 290 | Radeon RX 470 / R9 290 | |
| GPU (NVIDIA) | GeForce GTX 1060 / 970 | GeForce GTX 1050Ti / 960 | |
| Memory | 8GB+ RAM | ||
| Video Output | HDMI 1.3 | ||
| USB Ports | 3 x USB 3.0 1 x USB 2.0 |
1 x USB 3.0 2 x USB 2.0 |
|
| OS | Windows 7 SP1 64 bit or newer | Windows 8.1 or newer | |
On the HTC side of matters, a new Google Daydream supported Vive was announced only a few months ago, aimed at a 2017 release. Pricing was not revealed at that time.
Time will tell how much the Rift's bundle sale will help bring high-end VR to the masses.
Related Reading
- Oculus Rift Launch Day News: New AMD & NVIDIA Drivers; Async Timewarp & Platform Restrictions Added To SDK
- Hands On With the Retail Oculus Rift: Countdown to Launch
- Oculus Touch Controllers Shipping In December for $199
- HTC & Intel Partner on WiGig Wireless for Vive VR Headset
- GDC 2017 Roundup: VR for All - Pico Neo CV, Tobii, & HTC
- Basemark Releases VRScore, a VR & VR Headset Benchmark Suite for Windows
Source: Oculus (via Fortune)
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rtho782 - Tuesday, July 11, 2017 - link
Hmmm I kind of wanted a Vive but at this price....Are there many games I can't play on this that I could play with a vive?
abrowne1993 - Tuesday, July 11, 2017 - link
Bethesda's upcoming VR games will likely never support Oculus due to their parent company's feud. You can probably filter Steam by games that support Vive only.Trackster - Tuesday, July 11, 2017 - link
Most games can be played between the two (albeit a small hack may be required). I've seen many games on steam that natively support both, or will say they only support the Vive, but works find on my Oculus.The later version of the dolphin emulator have VR support. It's actually a lot of fun to re-play old GameCube games in VR (acting like an omnipotent viewer behind the character).
Morawka - Tuesday, July 11, 2017 - link
i picked one up at $400. That's a hell of a deal. Even if you just use it for VR porn, or the occasional gaming session, its hard to find any fault at 399. Vive is twice the costs for a inferior headset (in terms of build quality, Screen Door, and finish). The free games in this bundle make it worth even more.JKflipflop98 - Tuesday, July 11, 2017 - link
Actually, the Vive is superior in nearly all metrics. The only thing the Rift has that is better than Vive is the head strap - but Vive has the "Deluxe audio strap" that completely blows the Rift out of the water. Makes the Vive fit on your head like PSVR.Wolfpup - Wednesday, July 12, 2017 - link
Vive requires room though, right? Making it a non-starter for me, and probably most people.Rift though you're stuck with these drivers and whatnot from a company of unknown quality. Feel better about doing it with Sony or Valve...
MamiyaOtaru - Wednesday, July 12, 2017 - link
why would it *require* room? Don't have room? Don't get to use room features. It'll still work fine for sit downgerz1219 - Wednesday, July 12, 2017 - link
The big problem with the Vive's room feature is that, while software can theoretically use it as an option, in practice a lot of the software only works in room mode and not in sitdown. Even the minimum room size assumes you have a big apartment with a big empty space and high ceilings. In my tiny basement area with low ceilings, I've gotten trapped in certain games because I couldn't reach an object without hitting the ceiling.I wish there was more Vive software that just used an Xbox One controller to move around. The Rift shipped with that as the default method, so my guess is that more of the software supports that.
blackcrayon - Monday, July 17, 2017 - link
VR with a gamepad is just gross, man. Why even bother? Just play games on a nice large TV at that point.InfoFront - Thursday, July 13, 2017 - link
Most people don't have room?