Facebook has temporarily slashed the price of its Oculus Rift virtual reality headset, selling it for $399 complete with a Touch controller.
The price cut is a limited-time deal available for six weeks starting Monday, July 10. The Oculus Rift and Touch controller normally retail for $599, so this summer sale marks a hefty $200 discount.
"Summer of Rift is all about celebrating the VR community and encouraging new people to get in the game," says Oculus.
Oculus Rift Summer Sale
The temporary discount kicking off today follows a previous price cut back in March, when Facebook permanently dropped the Oculus Rift to $500 and the Oculus Touch controller to $100 instead of their previous prices of $600 and $200, respectively.
With the latest price cut, the Oculus Rift and Touch bundle is the most affordable VR headset offer currently available on the market, at least in terms of high-end options. The PlayStation VR comes in at $400, but the motion controllers and sensor camera are available separately and hike the price up to $460. The HTC Vive, meanwhile, comes with motion controllers bundled, but costs a steep $800.
Affordable VR
High-end VR headsets have been available for roughly a year, but sales haven't been stellar so far and one reason for that could be the high price tags that may put off many prospective customers. The new price of the Oculus Rift and Touch should significantly boost sales and make the device more mainstream, allowing even more budget-conscious shoppers to venture into this territory.
Price always pays a big part in a device's success and if VR headsets are expensive to begin with and also require expensive computers to work with, their success could be limited on financial constraints alone.
The Oculus platform also has more VR games available now on the platform, compared to the rather limited selection it had to offer when it first hit the market. More VR content and lower prices make the Rift a more attractive proposition, and Oculus says that more VR games from heavyweight publishers such as Epic Games and Ubisoft are also in the cards.
Based on how successful the Rift proves to be during this six-week summer sale at $200 off, Oculus may eventually decide to slap another permanent discount on the device. Would you buy the Oculus Rift and Touch controller at this new $399 price point? Let us know in the comments section below.
