An attendee wearing an Oculus Rift virtual reality headset plays in a virtual volleyball game at the Intel booth during the 2015 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo : Reuters)
Oculus VR founder Palmer Luckey who was key in the development of the Oculus headset, recently tweeted about the price of the company's first virtual reality product, which will probably cost hundreds of dollars. He compared the Rift's quality to fine wine, and Google Cardboard's quality to muddy water.
The Oculus executive is basically saying that the quality of the experience Rift users get will justify the price tag. However, referring to Cardboard as "muddy water" might be unfair. The $20 unit is built to be affordable, and is included in Google's Expeditions program that gives free Cardboard units and smartphones to schools.
However, the Rift headset certainly provides a better VR experience than Cardboard. The main reason is that phone screens and sensors have not been optimized for virtual reality, according to VentureBeat.
Luckey explained that the first generation Rift will have a high price. However, tech improvements and scale will help to reduce the prices of future versions.
Oculus has not released any details about the Rift's final price or release date. However, Luckey implied that the $350 development kit should not be used as a guide for the first model's price.
He has also observed that launching the first product on the retail market is "hard," according to Tech Crunch. The company was purchased by Facebook last year for $2 billion.
In fact, Luckey implied in his tweets that the company's teaming up with Facebook could help to prevent a $1,500+ price point. One tweet suggests that the price could be about $1,000, which could attract consumers who are thinking about trying out the medium.
