Now that Oculus permanently reduced the price of their VR headset, other competitors have to follow Sony has introduced a discounted PlayStation VR bundle not too long ago. It now appears HTC is doing the same with their Vive headset. The package includes the controllers and discounts the regular price by $200. Consumers in the rest of the world will see similar discounts, although the headset remains overly expensive in Europe.
HTC VIve Discounted Permanently
It is good to see HTC follow the trend set by both Oculus and Sony. VR headset hardware including controllers is often pretty expensive Now that the hardware has been available for some time, a discount is more than warranted. HTC is reducing the price of their bundle by $200 from now on. For the price of $599, customers get an HTC Vive, two controllers, and two Lighthouse stations. Quite an impressive deal for the people who are still on the fence about buying a VR headset these days.
One thing missing from this bundle is at least one virtual reality game. Although HTC specializes in premium hardware, customers will still need to buy the game separately. One would have expected at least one free game to be included, but that is not the case right now. The company does include a temporary Viveport subscript, which gives users access to five VR titles they can try out free of charge.
Additionally, HTC also includes access to Google’s Tilt Brush, EverestVR and Richie’s Plank Experience free of charge. While these are not necessarily apps everyone will use but is still a nice addition to the discounted bundle in the end. It is also a great way to introduce more people to the Viveport subscription service, as it will become the main hub for VR content as far as HTC is concerned. Users can still purchase games through Steam as well, assuming they are Vive-compatible.
Unfortunately, this discounted price is not the same everywhere in the world. More specifically, the US gets a $200 discount, whereas Europe gets a 200 EUR discount. However, the price in the US is $599 whereas European platforms still slap on a 699 EUR price tag. Discrepancies such as these are one of the main reasons why virtual reality hardware isn’t selling that well. Overcoming this price gap is quite problematic, though, as prices are never the same across different continents.
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