The VR thread

[Tain]

here's my scorching take: it's good that the Rift is relatively really cheap right now, regardless of why or what HTC may do

[Frogacuda]

I love how personally you take a comparison that is absolutely spot on. A hardware maker currently losing a battle that is outside their core business is slashing prices. Your counter-argument is essentially that the Xbox is doing better than the Rift. You really showed me.

I... don't even know where to start. I'm... WHAT? Like seriously, I can't even figure out how you could misunderstand something so badly.

Does anyone speak Yoshi?

[Diff-chan]

Im glad somebody is slashing prices, Vive prices are nuts and with all the add on shit they keep pushing out its crazy. As Frog said you're not getting a lot for paying literally twice the price.

[Tain]

yeah I'm not really following making fun of a price cut either

and it's not like there's a universe where the Rift will stop running SteamVR games

[Frogacuda]

Let's try this again:

For VR to be successful for game developers (at least those of any size), it has to sell MILLIONS of units.

Both Rift and Vive are FAR from achieving that. Sales of Rift are maybe 100-200k behind Vive, depending whose numbers you believe, but both are well under a million, probably even combined.

The reason Rift is dropping their price and not HTC is the same as the reason Facebook pumps hundreds of millions of dollars into games they know won't make money: Because they can, and because they see it as a long-term investment in an ecosystem. HTC isn't in a position to lose money on hardware, and they have no ownership in any ecosystem that would justify such a loss.

VR is not going to go mainstream at $800 + Gaming PC. A race is on to hit that sweet spot, price-wise. Oculus has gotten there first, but Microsoft is headed there as well, and HTC is going to follow when they're able to make that work.

[kedawa]

I don't think $400 + gaming PC is really the sweet spot, either.
Stand-alone VR is the only thing that could escape the niche market VR currently exists in.

[Joust Williams]

I got out of the VR game. It isn't really ready until next gen

One thing about VR is that the attach rate must be nuts. If you have a headset you buy all the games.

[Frogacuda]

I don't think $400 + gaming PC is really the sweet spot, either.

I think it's the sweet spot for the PC gamer market, or at least close to it. That puts it in line with, say, a solid video card. PC gaming is still a niche in some sense, of course, but it's a large, economically viable one that is able to sustain a healthy software ecosystem.

Stand-alone VR is the only thing that could escape the niche market VR currently exists in.

I don't see this happening. Stand-alone VR is doomed to deliver a worse experience for more money than home or mobile VR, and without being compatible with either. Home VR is going to continue to make huge strides that mobile and self-contained systems can't compete with, as well.

I think within a couple years we'll probably see PC products designed at bridging the accessibility gap. A $300-400 consolized PC purpose-built for VR. If Sony and MS are still in it, that will help too.

One thing about VR is that the attach rate must be nuts. If you have a headset you buy all the games.

There's like 800 VR games on Steam. There's actually only a small handful that have very high attach rates. Tilt Brush, Job Simulator, Arizona Sunshine, Raw Data. Steep fall off after that.

This is why these big Oculus games are so far beyond everything else; there's no money in it, unless Oculus is paying for your development.

[Joust Williams]

Well I meant games that aregood

[Diff-chan]

Four hundred is a lot more reasonable. I mean it's the same price as the PS VR and you're getting more for the price in terms of tech. It's just weird that before these came out everyone was like "need to get cheaper" and now that it is those same people are derping about it being cheaper.

OR will play any VR game due out in the near future. The Vive might theoretically have more add one and enhancements but they (A) cost a shitload, and (B) if you care about future proofing you're not going to buy a first gen headset anyway.

For four hundred I wouldn't even necessarily feel bad when a OR2 comes out. For eight hundred that shit could come out in 2020 and I would fee ripped off.