HTC Vive Retail Pre-Orders Open February 29th 2016

[Omnomnick]

At long last: We have a date! Earlier today, HTC Chief Executive Cher Wang told The Telegraph that the company's virtual reality headset, created in collaboration with Valve, will be available for pre-order from February 29th 2016 ahead of the full retail launch in April 2016, as previously revealed in December 2015.

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The Telegraph's article also mentions HTC are, at least partially, refocusing their hardware efforts away from smartphones and towards virtual reality, claiming creating "a natural extension to other connected devices like wearables and virtual reality is more important". While their commitment is admirable, the headset's starting price has yet to be revealed or even hinted at by Valve or HTC, with other representatives such as Shen Ye and Chet Faliszek remaining silent on the topic.

Regardless, we're looking forward to finding out even more about the Vive in the coming months and even pre-ordering one for ourselves as soon as possible!

 

[thermitecenter]

good news for SEE ... dream and see real sleep better beat technology
VR a good way to new experiences in the future

 

[Ennui]

Can't wait!

My wallet sure is taking a beating in Q1 2016 tho...

 

[Hectic Glenn]

Now here is the question....do I preorder and throw all this money at what was an amazing experience, or do I wait and see what version 2 will be coming out 1 year from now with an improved front camera etc (since they only recently added it). It's a hard choice, since it's going to be so much money.

Aside from that, HTC is haemorrhaging money like there is no tomorrow right now, their smartphone business has shrunk from something like 20pc to 1pc in the current market, something they used to be decent in. Including other markets, they reported incredible losses in the last quarter, something like $100 million dollars. It can't sustain this way for too long unfortunately, and diversification into other markets (such as VR with Valve) are where they are hedging their bets.

The consequence of that is possibly positive, they're investing and innovating aggressively with Valve, and it's not a side project and some of their best engineers are likely working on the Vive. On the other hand, I expect constant changes and successive models, just in the way they turn over their smartphone business (poorly I might add, especially by catering for the mid/low end of the market).

Besides those fears, the last thing on the list is the price position which is the biggest debate, given Oculus has got a few people's backs up with their pricing. Firstly, I'll state in my opinion VR is expensive because it's niche, it's new and it's for enthusiasts. Therefore it will be expensive, it's not a console peripheral meant for the masses (yet!). HTC need to position it competitively vs Oculus however with the spatial peripherals (2 lighthouses) and the front facing cam, I find it hard to believe it'll be priced any cheaper, in fact I think it will be more expensive by some margin. We'll see where that leaves HTC, because they desperately need a shot in the arm.

 

[Ennui]

My guess is that it's going to cost a few hundred more than the Oculus all said and told (at least), but considering it's ostensibly a higher-end setup than the Oculus I don't know if that will hurt it too bad.

At this point, it's not remotely cost effective to buy ANY VR platform - first generation is for people who don't mind paying a lot to be early adopters. Your points about HTC are well-founded though... but I believe they are counting on the success of VR in general as they are very pointedly pivoting out of the smartphone focus.

 

[Eejit]

The Vive will cost roughly the same as the Rift I think.

The Lighthouses and Controllers are relatively cheap and off-set by Rift extravagances like the custom fabric cover an fancy box. The front-facing camera specs are an unknown however.

Compared to that although Oculus are selling the Rift "at cost" all of their 3rd-party contractors will be making a profit on components/assembly. HTC will be able to make most of the components themselves and definitely do assembly, so their costs will be that much lower.

It mostly depends on how much profit per unit HTC want, and they'd be smarter to keep that modest in order to sell more units.

HTC are losing money but based on how much they lost last quarter their existing cash reserves would last 2 1/2 years, so I'm not too worried. They've already got enterprise partners like Audi signed up to use Vives, allegedly the new Alton Towers VR rollercoaster uses Vives etc. so it's going to be a success at some level - which means even if they fold someone will buy this part of the business.

 

[DEATHMASTER]

I need a good lineup of games to justify a purchase of any VR. Also will be interesting to see how many devs start making it a regular thing to support VR in the future. 3D monitors and glasses were lame so I can see why that never took off, but I have some more faith in this.

 

[Ennui]

I got a DK2 a little more than a year ago and I'm a pretty fervent believer in VR's potential (although still anything could happen market wise) which is why I'm preordering both the Oculus and Vive.

I do think it makes sense for people who aren't eager to be early adopters (and suffer the consequences of being one, like not having as many games that take advantage of the hardware and having to pay out the ass for everything) to wait until the next generation of HMDs or at least for the first-gen stuff to become more established.

I have no doubts that VR is going to be transformative for the gaming industry in the long run though - and eventually for other forms of media, especially film. What I'm less sure about is how much it will stumble in the next few years before we really get there. The technology still might be a little bit too immature for it to take off right now in the way that people like Palmer Luckey and Carmack want it to... it will take a few years for designers to even begin to establish the paradigms that will define VR games and experiences for decades to come. Still, I want to be a part of that ride no matter how turbulent it may end up being.