Oculus Rift team want to release consumer version of the headset for free

[Esivo]

I'll take one for free guys, no prob.

 

 

 

 

 

There’s been an abundance of intriguing news about the tools and applications of VR faceset Oculus Rift. Which is great, if you’re an owner of the $300 developer kit. For everyone else, it’s like watching the cool kids play with their fancy View-Master, flicking between pictures of dinosaurs, while you’re left listlessly browsing a picture book about chaffinches.

 

As yet, we don’t even know how the Rift will be officially released to the public, let alone when. But in an interview with Edge at last week’s Develop conference, Oculus VR CEO Brendan Iribe suggested that their eventual hope is to find a business model that will let interested players pick one up for free.

 

“The lower the price point, the wider the audience,” Iribe said. “We have all kinds of fantasy ideas. We’d love it to be free one day, so how do we get it as close to free as possible? Obviously it won’t be that in the beginning. We’re targeting the $300 price point right now but there’s the potential that it could get much less expensive with a few different relationships and strategies.”

 

“You can imagine if Microsoft and Sony can go out and subsidise consoles because there’s enough money to be made on software and other areas, then there’s the potential that this, in partnership, could get subsidised. Let’s say there was some game you played in VR that everybody loved and everybody played and we made $100 a month – or even $10 a month – at some point the hardware’s cheap enough and we’re making enough that we could be giving away the headset.”

 

“We’re not there yet,” he finished, “but we’re sitting there thinking all the time, how can we make this free? You want everybody to play it and the cheaper it is, the more people are going to go out and buy it. Today it’s a $300 dev kit but we’re thinking about how to get it out to as many people as possible.”

 

It’s a sensible attitude. Seemingly everyone who tries the Rift comes back with broadly positive stories of exciting tech, slight queasiness and being [censored] out of a [censored]. Which means the biggest hurdle is persuading people that it’s not just a rehash of ropey ’80s tech. And the best way to do that is getting it out into people’s hands and faces.

 

 

Source:

http://www.pcgamer.com/2013/07/15/oculus-rift-team-want-to-release-consumer-version-of-the-headset-for-free/

[Anult]

It isn't obviously free, they want to either give it to the consumer through a subscription model or subsidize it if you buy certain PC products I assume.

[cognitive]

 Im glad they are looking at their marketing strategy in this way. Reaching mainstream is when a product like this will change everything, going from a clunky headset, to glasses, to an implant in relatively short order. 

[Beskamir]

I REALLY hope that indie devs that want to include VR in their game will NOT have to pay for the feature and consumers will NOT have to pay monthly to use a rift. $300 is still pretty cheap, considering that an avarage monitor costs about $300. However I am sort of disappointed that the Rift is ONLY 1080p:( while Asus is already making 4k monitors. I would be willing to pay $100-$150 more or so for a 2560X1440 display.

[EChondo]

It isn't obviously free, they want to either give it to the consumer through a subscription model or subsidize it if you buy certain PC products I assume.

I just thought of something...

 

BUY A GTX 780 NOW AND GET A OCULUS RIFT FOR FREE*!

 

 

*Offer only available in U.S. or Canada, some restrictions apply.

[Anult]

I just thought of something...

 

BUY A GTX 780 NOW AND GET A OCULUS RIFT FOR FREE*!

 

 

*Offer only available in U.S. or Canada, some restrictions apply.

 

Good example.

[Vitalius]

Good example.

I would LOVE this. :D

[unitus77]

Never settle? 

[EChondo]

Never settle? 

Could work, but only on high end GPU's.

 

You're not going to get a Oculus Rift bundled with a 7750 for example. I can see them being bundled with 7950/7970 and definitely bundled with 7990.

 

Of course you can say the same from the Nvidia camp. I think 770 would be the lowest GPU to bundle with, but it's coming close. Again I can definitely see this being bundled with a GTX 690 or Titan for example.

[unitus77]

Could work, but only on high end GPU's.

 

You're not going to get a Oculus Rift bundled with a 7750 for example. I can see them being bundled with 7950/7970 and definitely bundled with 7990.

 

Of course you can say the same from the Nvidia camp. I think 770 would be the lowest GPU to bundle with, but it's coming close. Again I can definitely see this being bundled with a GTX 690 or Titan for example.

That was kind of a joke lol but if even they did a free oculus rift with a $1000+ GPU that would be awesome. Have to see which company jumps on the oculus first. 

I would guess nvidia for obvious reasons. 

[WiiManic]

Palmer has come out and said that the Rift wont require a subscription, more hinge on the fact of making about $10 a month on average from each user, through stuff like Partnerships, Exclusive Titles, being linked into MMOs etc.

 

That and that people will always have the option to buy a unit and do whatever they want with it.

 

Source.

[LonliestofAll]

Palmer has come out and said that the Rift wont require a subscription, more hinge on the fact of making about $10 a month on average from each user, through stuff like Partnerships, Exclusive Titles, being linked into MMOs etc.

That and that people will always have the option to buy a unit and do whatever they want with it.

Source.

A free Oculus would be epic, although I don't know what devs will be willing to support this.

[Esivo]

I just thought of something...

 

BUY A GTX 780 NOW AND GET A OCULUS RIFT FOR FREE*!

 

 

*Offer only available in U.S. or Canada, some restrictions apply.

That's actually a great idea.

[Beskamir]

I just thought of something...

BUY A GTX 780 NOW AND GET A OCULUS RIFT FOR FREE*!

*Offer only available in U.S. or Canada, some restrictions apply.

I like the small text...

but somehow the makers of RIFT NEED to make money. Making a Rift requires money! So if they weren't at least breaking even, they would definitely go under. Someone NEEDS to pay that amount. It just depends on who will be paying it.

[EChondo]

I like the small text...

but somehow the makers of RIFT NEED to make money. Making a Rift requires money! So if they weren't at least breaking even, they would definitely go under. Someone NEEDS to pay that amount. It just depends on who will be paying it.

It could be an adjoined or mutual agreement. Rift could take 10%-50%, it would depend on the agreement. Same thing with the current game deal bundles like Never Settle and Metro Last Light.

[LonliestofAll]

What would be the most efficient way would have devs, that aren't indie, pay 20% of all income from that title that uses the rift.

[mgsstar]

*Free but some restrictions apply. Please read the fine print for more details. :D

 

You probably have to buy something like the other people said in order to get this for free because if they kept giving these away for free, they will go bankrupt unless some decides to sponsor them. :)

[EChondo]

*Free but some restrictions apply. Please read the fine print for more details. :D

 

You probably have to buy something like the other people said in order to get this for free because if they kept giving these away for free, they will go bankrupt unless some decides to sponsor them. :)

I can see them doing stuff like subsidized deals. Put $100 down and you can have your own Oculus Rift, but you'll have to pay $10 a month until you pay the other $200 off.

 

Or maybe have a trial offer OR have kiosks setup so you can try it out in stores first.

[jbr]

Not free

[stevv]

both threads where locked at the same time lol

 

 

Anyway, I'd be pissed if they gave for free, but I guess it's for spreading.. so that's good for dev too.  They better give me the upgrade for the HD screen at least!  :D