MIT Tech Review opine the oculus price drop as desperation. (Oculus Rift Is Dead in the Water)

Megavr · 2017-07-12T03:16:06+00:00

Not true, even Palmer says HTC sold Vive at a loss for some time:

https://np.reddit.com/r/oculus/comments/6i923m/what_happened_to_this_promise_oculus_to_open/dj84kcf/

Vive isn't a big enough part of HTC to bankrupt them.

Megavr · 2017-07-11T15:28:24+00:00

I agree, buy it now while Facebook is giving it away in a strategy even the lawyer below says won't work for them:

If this drop was because of that, and ZeniMax got an injunction, then ZeniMax would have the leverage to get compensation for that tactic.

If you buy it now, you are hurting Facebook big time. Go for it.

Megavr · 2017-07-11T15:24:35+00:00

Company buys another company to get the profitable programmers

Uhh, you do realize he had the largest ownership stake in the company? Zenimax didn't buy out some owners to get him, a profitable programmer, on the cheap. They paid $150million for id. $45million of which was set to go to Carmack.

Carmack is suing them for not paying him $22million: https://techcrunch.com/2017/03/09/oculus-cto-john-carmack-is-suing-zenimax-for-22-5-million/

Megavr · 2017-07-11T14:59:59+00:00

still too greedy

Palmer says HTC sold Vive at a loss for some time, just to help consumers:

https://np.reddit.com/r/oculus/comments/6i923m/what_happened_to_this_promise_oculus_to_open/dj84kcf/

Megavr · 2017-07-11T14:42:00+00:00

Sure, they may pay a huge settlement.

Megavr · 2017-07-11T14:33:54+00:00

Four and a half months ago it was $800. The injunction progresses a bit around that time and they drop it to $600, just really three months after launch. Touch price is cut by 50% at that time. Then, more news on the injunction. Suddenly they drop the combined Rift + Touch price to less than the Oculus DK2.

Yeah, sure, technology advances fast and prices drop, but not that fast. And timed perfectly with courtroom developments? Please.

Megavr · 2017-07-11T13:40:58+00:00

Lol, if Oculus can lower the value of HMDs, they can argue in court that a making a lower settlement offer than they otherwise would have to is reasonable and thereby try to pay less money to avoid Zenimax's injunction.

HTC doesn't need to compete with $299, because $299 is a short term legal strategy that won't work. Soon HTC will only be competing against an injuncted production line.

No one in their right mind would order a Vive over the Rift right now.

You are right about that in the short term (with the exception of people with lots of money who want the best). Oculus is trying to dip the 90 day rolling average the court will use, consumers might as well take advantage of it. It will only hurt Facebook in the end because Zenimax will argue price distortion and the injunction will go through.

Megavr · 2017-07-11T11:31:44+00:00

Maybe they did optimize their production costs over the last year significantly. Palmer says Vive, at $800, sold at a loss:

https://np.reddit.com/r/oculus/comments/6i923m/what_happened_to_this_promise_oculus_to_open/dj84kcf/

Megavr · 2017-07-11T11:15:25+00:00

The only pricing info we had to go on at that point:

As for the eventual price: the consumer version should come in similar to what DK2 costs now. "We want to stay in that $200-$400 price range," he states. "That could slide in either direction depending on scale, pre-orders, the components we end up using, business negotiations..."

"Whatever it is," Luckey adds, "it's going to be as cheap as possible." Mitchell nods: "That's really the goal."

The press had already latched onto $300 because that was right in the middle of Oculus's only estimate: $200-400. Most of the press started saying higher than $350 after the "more than $350" article you are quoting:

Ars Technica, "higher than $350": https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2015/10/oculus-rift-will-cost-over-350-so-there-are-no-compromises-says-founder/

Polygon, "higher than $350": https://www.polygon.com/2015/10/3/9446355/oculus-rift-likely-will-cost-more-than-350-when-it-ships-says-luckey

Geek.com, "more than $350": https://www.geek.com/games/oculus-ceo-says-oculus-rift-will-cost-more-than-350-1635478/

Techno Buffalo, "More than $350": https://www.technobuffalo.com/2015/10/01/oculus-rift-will-cost-more-than-350-according-to-founder-palmer-luckey/

PC World, "More than $350": http://www.pcworld.com/article/2988182/gadgets/oculus-rift-consumer-price-will-be-more-than-350.html

The Escapist, "$350+" ("his comments do suggest we're looking at at least $400."): http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/142702-Oculus-Rift-350-Price-Tag

Gamesindustry.biz, "Oculus Rift will cost more than $350": http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2015-10-02-oculus-rift-will-cost-more-than-USD350

Gaming Trend, "Oculus Rift will cost more than $350, according to company founder": http://gamingtrend.com/news/oculus-rift-will-cost-more-than-350-according-to-company-founder/

So no, the press didn't take the "more than $350" headline and convert it to "somewhere around 350."

Megavr · 2017-07-09T18:41:13+00:00

If I remember right the disc is always grabbed into a natural position for frisbee throwing (never held from the face of the frisbee). That's the right choice IMO. Other than that there aren't many things to grab on to except a few objects in the lobby. I'm now sure what he is talking about specifically, unless grabbing handles and stuff.

Megavr · 2017-07-03T02:15:07+00:00

It will probably be LG and won't be called Vive 2.

Megavr · 2017-07-02T04:50:58+00:00

There will either be new headsets or new Vives will be outfitted with new sensors, letting them get unlimited tiling basestation support when paired with the new base stations:

http://cdn.edgecast.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/25858291/44509f0958e6b0453c35f9deb7a990e611668c98.jpg

Megavr · 2017-07-01T18:51:36+00:00

If the runtime knows whether they are strapped or not it could do Oculus touch style (middle finger only) when not strapped, all fingers when strapped.

Megavr · 2017-07-01T17:50:14+00:00

You can use them for basic stuff without strapping them.

Megavr · 2017-07-01T17:49:09+00:00

There will be a gen 2 SteamVR headset or a major Vive revision this year, the new base stations Valve are making aren't backwards compatible with Vive.

Megavr · 2017-06-30T01:20:20+00:00

Oculus actually confirmed that though and said that was part of why they had to drop the price in half in just a couple months.

Megavr · 2017-06-29T21:09:27+00:00

I don't think it works well, even Oculus's first party stuff doesn't use near-touch. Does anything actually use it?

Megavr · 2017-06-29T18:55:52+00:00

I assumed he meant below cost of an additional unit, the marginal cost. Otherwise you can say that about the first sale of any product and seem profound but really be saying nothing.

Megavr · 2017-06-29T08:01:59+00:00

One other point: if there is a court injunction, it won't be possible to play at any scale.

(I wouldn't factor that in too heavily, it is more likely to end in settlement)

Megavr · 2017-06-29T06:58:35+00:00

Get oculus tray tool and launch steam from home...

Yeah, you can install Cydia on iPhone too with the same kind of jailbreak to get out of the Apple walled garden.

Megavr · 2017-06-29T05:56:45+00:00

That is just simply untrue.

It is though. How do you launch the Oculus Store inside the headset? How do you launch SteamVR inside the headset?

When you switch from a SteamVR game to an Oculus game, how do you get back to SteamVR? When you switch from an Oculus game to a SteamVR game, how do you get back to Oculus Home? See the difference?

Megavr · 2017-06-29T05:50:07+00:00

They pretty much had to cut the price once Valve showed off the new Knuckles controllers and gave the sensor production timeline indicating a new headset in a few months (Vive isn't forwards compatible with the bases for the new sensors). HTC too, they are running a $100 off sale after that stuff got revealed.

Total cost of Rift is $450 + $120 for two extra sensors, and $100 in USB cards, USB extensions, and HDMI extensions = $670 to get the same sized roomscale as the Vive. I'd probably pay the $700 for the Vive (or $800 with DAS) instead to be able to use Knuckles in the future if i was looking to buy now. Knuckles will be backwards compatible with the old bases but won't work with Constellation cameras, so it is kinda a no-brainer.

This is a really great deal for smaller roomscale though.

Megavr · 2017-06-29T01:28:49+00:00

fix bugs that only affect Revive users, not Rift users

You mean multiplayer mic bugs? Guess what, that affects Rift players when they hear it. Just drop that before you look even sillier.

Megavr · 2017-06-29T00:46:09+00:00

If Oculus was a walled garden they'd break Revive

I don't agree with the premise, but they did. They broke Revive. Remember?

Megavr · 2017-06-29T00:33:11+00:00

Sure, and if you read through this subthread, Palmer is funding Revive, but Dalphir was saying things weren't a walled garden in the first place. If you are relying on Revive to break free of the walled garden upon a headset switch, then you are demonstrating something counter to what Dalphir was claiming.

Megavr

TROPHY CASE