Ever since VR witnessed its barnstorming revival, the key hurdle between the technology’s tantalizing concept and mass cultural acceptance has been the price of entry, with the likes of Sony, Valve and Oculus remaining relatively quite on the matter. That is until now, at least, with Brendan Iribe – CEO at the later company – revealing via an interview with Re/code that an Oculus Rift headset couple with a VR-ready PC will cost in the region of $1,500.
Here’s what Iribe had to say on the matter:
“We are looking at an all-in price, if you have to go out and actually need to buy a new computer and you’re going to buy the Rift… at most you should be in that $1,500 range.”
It’s worth nothing that Iribe closes out by saying that $1,500 is the artificial ceiling for all intents and purposes, meaning that it’s unlikely consumers will have to fork out anything beyond that price point. Still, given that the Oculus Rift requires such a powerful gaming rig to function in its optimal settings, one would imagine that the market for a virtual reality headset will be niche at best. In time, the company’s CEO wants to pull that asking price down to a much more reasonable $1,000, but even that represents a significant barrier to entry.
For reference, here’s the recommended PC specs to run the VR device:
NVIDIA GTX 970 / AMD 290 equivalent or greater
Intel i5-4590 equivalent or greater
8GB+ RAM
Compatible HDMI 1.3 video output
2x USB 3.0 ports
Windows 7 SP1 or newer
Oculus will host its own event prior to E3 on June 11, and it’s here that we will surely learn the final price point and release date for its much-anticipated Oculus Rift headset.