Oculus drops price of Rift and Touch by $200

As Oculus approaches the first anniversary of the hardware shipping, they are now discounting both the Rift and the Touch controllers.

The Rift with the touch controllers is now being offered as a bundle with a $200 saving. The bundle comes in at $598 (Rift $499/Touch $99). An additional Oculus sensor which is needed for room-scale is also down to $59.

Oculus’ Jason Rubin explained the price change in a blog adding, “We believe this lower entry price will attract consumers to PC VR at a faster pace. This is universally good for the entire community, but especially for developers. A larger userbase means higher potential sales, easier player matching, better communities, and results in the ability to invest more in titles. This increased investment means better software which in turn brings more consumers. This virtuous cycle is the fuel that can launch PC VR.”

With the Touch only having launched on 6 December priced at $199.00, there are will be some unhappy early adopters. Still, if VR is to truly take off on the PC. this is a step in the right direction. It is however still overpriced for the experiences it offers.

HTC and the Vive are yet to follow suit but watch this space. Competition is heating up with LG announcing their own kit and StarVR also looking to access the consumer market at some point down the line.