Oculus founder Palmer Luckey faced a wave of questions from fans in a Reddit AMA earlier today, where he apologized for “poorly messaging” the price of the Oculus Rift.
In a mega post from fans at /r/Oculus, Palmer said that he thought fans knew the approximate price of the Oculus CV1 (Consumer Version), after media outlets reported several times on the $1,500 price for a capable PC and the Rift.
Discussing an interview where Palmer said the Rift would be “in the ballpark of $350,” he said: “I was contrasting $349 with $1,500, not our internal estimate that hovered close to $599 — that is why I said it was in roughly the same ballpark. Later on, I tried to get across that the Rift would cost more than many expected, in the past two weeks particularly.”
Palmer spoke on the subject of accessories, after a comment asked why they were bundled with the Rift. He said the Xbox One controller, headphones, and other accessories cost almost nothing to bundle, and the real cost factor is the “build-for-VR” dual OLED displays, with a super high refresh rate and pixel density.
The displays cost as much as a high-end DSLR lens, according to Palmer.
The Oculus founder also confirmed that more accessories are on the way in the near future, and he expects the future of virtual reality to be less about gaming.
Oculus Touch, the remote accessory for gaming and movement, might be bundled with the CV1. Replying to the mass thread, Palmer hinted at the possibility, which is interesting since a week ago Oculus said the remote wouldn’t be ready until the second half of 2016.
The Oculus Rift will support Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 10. Palmer believes that most games on the Oculus store will run at a solid 90 FPS on the Rift, provided you have a Nvidia GTX 970 or better.
You can check out the full Reddit AMA here. The mega-thread has been deleted by the iAmA moderators, but Palmer re-posted the answers.
