A £689 package cost is made even less palatable by a £57 delivery charge, putting the overall price well beyond even the Oculus Rift.
The HTC Vive, Valve and HTC’s candidate for Virtual Reality dominance this year, had US pricing and pre-order information revealed last week. Setting a high water-mark at $799 + p&p, $200 more expensive than the Oculus Rift, it nonetheless comes equipped with motion controls that the Rift will lack when orders are shipped next month. Non-US pricing however was only divulged yesterday, and it makes for some depressing reading if you’re an early-adopter. In addition to a list price of £689 UK consumers will also need to pony up £57 in delivery costs, presumably because desiccant silica gel is undergoing a drastic shortage this year.
It must be said that US consumers aren’t exactly getting off stock free in terms of delivery costs. Home-grown purchases of the VR system – which includes Headset, two base stations, motion controls, ear-bud headphones and other Vive accessories – will incur a slightly more agreeable $30 charge on top of their $799.
International pre-orders for the HTC Vive were opened at 3pm GMT today, and orders are expected to fulfilled from April this year. It remains to be seen just how much consumers eager to invest in the next big thing in gaming will be put off by up-front costs.
More information on the Vive can be found at http://www.htcvive.com/uk/.
