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Oculus Chief Apologizes for Rift Price Confusion

Oculus Rift DK2 was one of the first VR headsets to support SteamVR.

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The tech, which is now available for pre-order, was priced at £499 ($599). You also get a Xbox One controller, head tracking camera, a remote and two free games: Lucky’s Tale and EVE: Valkyrie. This is in contrast, it’s now clear, with what many people assumed Oculus founder Luckey Palmer meant when he said the final consumer unit would cost somewhere in the “ballpark” of the cost of the dev kit.

He later talked about how the virtual reality battle isn’t Sony against Oculus, but rather “us versus the public and trying to convince them that VR is worth adopting”.

“I handled the messaging poorly”, he added.

That being said, starting April Oculus Rift is going to be shipped to some retailers (in a selection of regions) but in limited quantities. The retailing price for this package is $599 though oversee customers have to factor in shipping expenses.

When it was announced that the Oculus Rift would cost $599, everyone gasped at how expensive it was.

In addition to the high price of the headset, those looking to purchase a Rift will need a pretty powerful gaming PC. Oculus chief executive Brendan Iribe said in May that the Rift and the computer needed to run it were expected to cost around $1,500.

“A lot of people wish we would sell a bundle without “useless extras” like high-end audio, a carrying case, the bundled games, etc, but those just don’t significantly impact the cost.”

When we reported on the pre-order news earlier in the week, reports speculated that the price would be around $350, according to Polygon.

Should that not bother you, we’d recommend you follow Oculus’ advice and download their Rift compatibility tool.

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Those who pre-order the Rift will also get priority waiting list options for the Oculus Touch, the virtual reality controller unveiled at E3 last June.

A visitor tries on virtual reality glasses from Oculus Rift Development Kit 2 during the first Consumer Electronics Sh