Taiwanese tech company HTC announced on Feb. 22 that it is opening pre-orders for the first consumer edition of its upcoming virtual reality headset, HTC Vive, on Feb. 29 at exactly 10:00 AM EST. The virtual reality headset will be released on full commercial availability by April, at the same time the initial batch of pre-orders will begin shipping to customers.
For those interested of getting their hands into the HTC Vive, the virtual reality headset has quite a hefty price tag. HTC announced that the headset will be priced $799 for its Consumer Edition kit. In comparison, the Oculus Rift costs $599.
On the other hand, the HTC Vive have some perks that are not available on the Oculus Rift package. The HTC Vive package includes the one virtual reality headset, two wireless controllers, room scale movement sensors and two virtual reality titles; "Job Simulator" from Owlchemy Labs and "Fantastic Contraption" from Northway Games.
As an added bonus, the HTC Vive Consumer Edition will ship with a newly designed head strap, integrated smartphone functionality which allows Vive owners to respond to text message or answer incoming calls directly from the headset.
HTC had also collaborated with Valve, a partnership that many analysts deemed to be a major selling point for the virtual reality headset.
In a statement acquired by Maximum PC, HTC CEO and chairwoman Cher Wang said, "Since announcing Vive this time last year, we have worked tirelessly with Valve to deliver the best VR experience on the market, winning multiple awards and receiving critical acclaim from media, consumer and the industry."
One of the biggest point of criticism when it comes to virtual reality headset is the price. When the Facebook-owned Oculus announced its price point, consumers and market analysts alike instantly berated its hefty price tag.
On the other hand, Oculus founder Palmer Luckey said that lowering the price of the Oculus Rift means that the company should have to cut some of its edges, which in turn could degrade is mess up the whole virtual reality experience. Luckey added that doing so will do more harm than good to the fledgling medium, according to Variety.