Touch is Going to be £250 - £300 Here's Why

[Shadowmask72]

This is my opinion and not fact despite the hyperbole in the title 🙂  but anyone hoping touch is going to be sub £200 might want to think again because today HTC launched their online accessory store with some eye opening prices.  A single Vive wand will set you back £116 NOT INC. TAX and Shipping. Two of those then is likely to cost around £250 or more when shipping and TAX is added depending on your country.

OK, Oculus is a different company to HTC and the technologies are not the same, but Oculus are maintaining superior quality which to me suggests that the Touch controllers aren't going to be cheap.

The only saving grace is whether we'll get a pre-order bonus discount over the retail price.

[Anonymous]

To be honest the whole HTC accessory store seems to work on a ridiculously massive mark up price.

If you go by these prices and work out the cost of the HTC Vive HMD:

£117 x 2 for controllers
£122 x 2 for base stations
£36 for cables
£27 for breakout box

If I buy everything it will cost £689

That means the HMD cost £148 to make which I highly doubt! 🙂

[Shadowmask72]

Assuming Oculus don't try to make profit on Touch seeing as they claimed to release the Rift at cost.

[Anonymous]

Well they haven't said they are selling Touch at cost which probably means they will make a profit, I just don't think they will make as such a big a profit as the HTC accessory store is 😛

I thought the Vive was a great price at £689 and they still claimed to make a profit from that. So I think that's why everyone compares the Rift + Touch to the whole HTC Vive package and comes out at the $200 price point. I just think the accessory store is a bad comparison as they clearly has high mark up as most accessory's do. 

[Shadowmask72]

Well frozenPea the way I'm viewing it is:

2x superior controllers+charge cables
1X Camera
1x Fancy Packaging
Profit (optional)
VAT
Shipping Cost

[Anonymous]

yeah fair enough, I'm not arguing your price just using the accessory store as a benchmark 😛

I'm fully expecting to get screwed over with our new £ exchange rate when they get released! That being said I would find it hard to justify £250-£300 for Touch even though I want it really badly! 😛

If you didn't have a Vive would you go for it at that price?

[Skizz]

First of all they should finally answer my support ticket concerning the broken Rift I've got. Until I will get a fully working unit, I can't sign your passage about "maintaining superior quality"..

Aside from that anything over 200/250€ would be a no no imo

[Bloodlet]

The rift needs the Touch....

...but not that much.

I bought the rift for racing and flying sims. I was looking forward to trying the touch for shooting and if possible sword play. At that price I'll be sticking to the Sims.

If your pricing is correct then they just lost this customer.

[edmg]

Accessories are always massively marked up when bought separately. I think a replacement charger for my point-and-click camera costs almost as much as the camera did, if you buy it at full retail price. If you take the cost of all the Vive accessories, add them up and compare it to the price of the Vive package, the HMD probably comes 'free'.

Oculus, OTOH, will probably charge for Touch as though it was shipped as part of the Rift package, because they're going to have to compete with the Vive package.

[Shadowmask72]

FrozenPea said:

If you didn't have a Vive would you go for it at that price?

Well here's the thing. HTC have Vive owners at their mercy if they want replacement outside of warranty. You like it or have a unit not working at 100% if you've smashed your wand into the ceiling too many times.

I think us Oculus owners are in a similar boat because alright the Rift works fine without the Touch controllers but like the Vive owners we'd be using a unit not working at 100%. Oculus knows this and so we lump it or bite the bullet on whatever price they feel (much like HTC with their insanity pricing) they can get away with. Oculus is a business after all not a charity.

Sadly, I'm probably in the minority here but I would pay for them regardless of the price.