The HTC Vive is the most popular high-end virtual reality headset on the block, and now it’s a whole lot cheaper to own one. HTC announced today that it is permanently reducing the price of the Vive system to $599, which is a full $200 cheaper than its previous $799 price. If you’ve been hankering for a discount before diving into the best VR gaming around, this is exactly what you’ve been waiting for.
Your $599 will get you the Vive headset, two controllers, and two room-scale VR sensors. That’s all you’ll need to play any Vive-compatible virtual reality games on Steam, and if you haven’t dabbled in VR yet, you’ve got a lot to explore. HTC will get you started with three free games: Everest VR, Richie’s Plank Experience, and Google’s Tilt Brush.
The Vive officially launched in April of 2016, and it’s been cruising along with a healthy majority of VR market share ever since. The Oculus, which is currently enjoying a temporary sale of its own at $399, has made up some ground after an extremely disappointing first months on the market. The Vive still holds 60% of the VR market according to activity on Valve’s Steam marketplace. That said, it was probably due for a bit of a discount, and its new $599 price will bring it within $100 of the cheaper Oculus Rift, which will return to $499 once the summer sale price expires.
The real selling point for the Vive — aside from its fantastic room-scale tracking — is the wealth of content available for the system. The platform won over VR developers very early on and, once the Rift began to stumble, quickly became the go-to for early adopters and new virtual reality developers alike. There’s no denying that $599 is much, much closer to mass-market pricing than $799, so there’s sure to be lots of new VR gamers joining the fray very shortly.
