HTC Vive drops price to $599, keeping it competitive with Oculus Rift

HTC announced a two hundred dollar price drop for their Vive VR package. You can now grab yourself a HTC Vive setup for the low, low price of $599. Ok, so, maybe in light of Oculus' recent price drop, this doesn't seem like a huge deal, but we have to remember that the Rift sale will eventually come to an end, and the price will rise to $499.99. At that point, the Vive will only cost an extra $100, which isn't necessarily chump change, but you do have to remember that the Rift really needs a 3rd sensor to match the Vive beat for beat. So, when you start to factor in the 3rd sensor, the price parity becomes much more reasonable. (an argument of course could be made that Vive owners really need the Deluxe Audio Strap to match the Rift in comfort and ease of use, so it can develop into a tit for tat type situation with all the various add-ons)

Regardless of everything else, this is definitely a positive move for HTC and their Vive platform. While this might really hurt the company from a profit standpoint, sometimes you have to bite the bullet, and figure out other ways to make it back. (all the accessories!) The key is for the HTC Vive to stay a player in the game, and this move was absolutely necessary to achieve this. A difference of $100 is managable. HTC can work with that. Any more than that, and you'd have to figure that Oculus would get the lions share of the high-end VR market. At this very moment, the Rift is still the recommended option, but that's because of a $200 price difference. The $100 price difference changes the equation. Then it becomes a question of how big of a room do you have dedicated to VR? The HTC Vive is still the superior option for those that have really huge rooms. A game like Unseen Diplomacy perfectly illustrates how maximum sized roomscale space can be so powerful.