The Oculus Rift Will Somehow Cost More Than a New Console

What happened?Earlier this week, Facebook’s (NASDAQ:FB) Oculus VR said that it would begin taking pre-orders for its widely anticipated Rift virtual reality headset on Wednesday.

Oculus initially said the devices would start shipping out on March 28, although Ars Technica is reporting that pre-order customers are now being told to expect their headset in May.

The package includes the Oculus Rift headset (with built-in headphones), a mic, the sensor, a remote, and an Xbox One controller. That’s good news for those who may end up inclined to instead seek the headset at retailers, a select number of which will have the Rift available “in limited locations” starting in April.

There is, however, two free games bundled in under the $600 price tag: Lucky’s Tale and CCP Games’ acclaimed dogfighting sim EVE: Valkyrie.

“We’ve been working with some of the top developers in the industry to create incredible, new made for VR games and experiences”.

Although VR will be expensive this year, as time goes on the cost to manufacture should be reduced, allowing Oculus, HTC/Valve, and Sony to reduce their MSRPs. Oculus has also revealed that they are selling the Rift at a loss in order to entice people to the platform. With the current exchange rate $599 U.S.is approximately $849 CAD, plus $65 shipping, amounting to a hefty total of $914 CAD (as of today’s exchange rate of 1.41).

The pre-order page features a cost of $599 (£410), but going through to the check out page in the United Kingdom shows that the Rift headset will set consumers on this side of the pond back £499. That’s in line with the price range for a headset and PC that Oculus executives had floated past year. Typically pre-orders lock the purchaser in with a non-refundable deposit.