HTC has announced plans to celebrate the retail release of the Vive headset, which launched on April 5, 2016. On Wednesday, April 5, the company will offer a $100 discount to anyone purchasing a new Vive, bringing its cost down to $700 from its standard price point of $800.
In addition to the one-day price cut, HTC is also planning to offer up a free game to celebrate the hardware’s first anniversary. All owners will be able to download a free copy of Arcade Saga, an action game created by HTC’s internal development team 2Bears Studios.
Arcade Saga uses the headset to put a new spin on three real-world sports; pinball, table tennis, and archery. The game features a massive 84-level campaign mode that’s peppered with challenging room-scale boss fights, as well as head-to-head online multiplayer for gamers with a more competitive streak.
Vive owners will be able to download Arcade Saga for free on April 5 via the brand new Viveport platform. Set to launch on April 5, Viveport will give subscribers unlimited access to five games from a selection of more than fifty titles for a monthly fee of just $7.
HTC certainly seems to be eager to use the one-year anniversary of the Vive’s release to attract some new customers, and to direct existing owners to its new subscription service. Now that the company’s headset has established a beachhead in the consumer market, it makes sense that HTC would combine efforts to promote the hardware with attempts to publicize compatible software.
The early part of 2017 has seen HTC’s biggest rival in terms of virtual reality hardware, Oculus, distracted by ongoing legal action. Now would be an optimal time for HTC to try seize control of the VR market, and promotional efforts like this celebration of the Vive’s one-year anniversary certainly seem to be a step in that direction.
