Virtual reality really isn’t good enough yet to justify going broke for.
Though VR headset prices are steadily coming down, the fact is it’s still not all that accessible for even the most gadget-obsessed consumers to get started on high-quality VR. This is a major problem for the VR industry, one that will be solved eventually, but it’s unclear how much hype will wear off before that happens.
Today, HTC, which makes the popular Vive headset, announced a few deals that will help new customers spread out the cost of the $799 gadget. HTC has detailed that they aren’t all that interested in price-matching Facebook’s Oculus, which is now selling a bundle of its Rift headset and Touch controllers for $598.
Facebook’s PC-powered Rift system allegedly hasn’t been selling as well as HTC’s, but with the recent price drop and some software quirks that allow less-powerful PCs to run VR, it’s clear Oculus is looking to capture some less-techie users even if that’s a pipe dream during this stage of the industry.
You need to have a pretty decent handle on PC tech specs to make sense of these new deals from HTC, but that kind of speaks to the audience HTC is isolating for its platform as it continues to serve as the favorite platform for VR developers.
HTC is bundling a pretty beefy Nvidia GTX 1070 graphics card and its Vive headset for $999.99, while also offering a host of financing options for people in the market for a gaming PC and a headset. The graphics card bundle is a few hundred bucks off suggested retail price.
This is actually a great deal if you’re looking to build a new PC or are in need of a new graphics card to run VR in the first place; the 1070 will be able to handle most anything you throw at it. The bundle is only offered through April 24, though the financing options on some of the other deals (detailed here) should stay available for a bit.