HTC today announced that the Vive Pro headset only (without controllers or base stations) will cost $800 and launch on April 5th; the headset is now available for pre-order. Meanwhile, the original Vive is getting a price cut of $100, down to $500.

After announcing the Vive Pro headset back in January, HTC left the VR sector in suspense as to what the price would be and precisely when it would launch. Now we have the answers: the Vive Pro headset alone will cost $800 and launch on April 5th. Pre-orders are open globally as of today at Vive.com and other Vive retailers like Amazon [Amazon]. Orders placed before June 3rd will receive a six month trial of Viveport Subscription, HTC’s subscription content service which gives players unlimited access to five VR titles (picked from a library of 400) each month.

SEE ALSO
Hands-on: The Vive Pro is Much More Than an Improved Screen

Note that this doesn’t include VR controllers or base stations, which means the headset-only offering is pretty much only meant as an upgrade for existing Vive owner who have the rest of the kit. The company says the full Vive Pro package (including new controllers and base stations with SteamVR 2.0 Tracking) won’t come until later this year.

Photo by Road to VR

As for the original Vive, the full package (including controllers and base stations) is dropping from $600 to $500, placing the headset within $100 of main rival Oculus Rift which is priced at $400. Last month the Rift surpassed the Vive for the first time in headset marketshare on Steam, which may have contributed to the price drop.

The original Vive will continue to ship with a two month trial of Viveport Subscription and a free copy of Fallout 4 VR (2017).

Stradling Segments

Image courtesy HTC

With the Vive Pro, HTC seems to be trying to please both enterprise/commercial customers and its core audience of (mostly) gaming-focused VR enthusiasts. For the former, less price sensitive group, the Vive Pro price is probably fine, but for the latter, the seemingly high price is likely to be met with disappointment, especially considering that the original Vive was priced at $800 at launch with base stations and controllers, and that the only consumers who could reasonably buy the Vive Pro headset at this point are early adopters who already invested in a Vive at either $800 or the later $600 price point.

Especially with the rise of smartphones, people have come to expect that new models of their favorite consumer electronics devices will offer an upgrade but be priced the same as the prior model. We also see this expectation strongly with game consoles, PCs, and peripherals. It was for that reason that I expected that the Vive Pro would be priced at $800 for the full package (ie: matching the original launch price of the Vive while offering an upgrade), but it turns out they opted for $800 for the Vive Pro headset upgrade alone.

At this point HTC hasn’t confirmed what the full Vive Pro package will cost, but if the headset alone is $800, $1,000 or more seems like a good bet by the time the new controllers and base stations are thrown in.

Image courtesy HTC

Given the prices in question, it seems likely that some Vive users will consider Samsung’s Odyssey headset as a potential upgrade too, as it boasts the same high resolution displays, and the complete package (including controllers) can be had for $200 cheaper than the Vive Pro headset alone.

Certainly the choice is good for the market, but it remains to be seen whether or not HTC can effectively court the professional and enthusiast segments with one device.


What do you think of the Vive Pro price? If you already own a Vive, will you consider upgrading? We’d love to hear your input in the comments below.

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Ben is the world's most senior professional analyst solely dedicated to the XR industry, having founded Road to VR in 2011—a year before the Oculus Kickstarter sparked a resurgence that led to the modern XR landscape. He has authored more than 3,000 articles chronicling the evolution of the XR industry over more than a decade. With that unique perspective, Ben has been consistently recognized as one of the most influential voices in XR, giving keynotes and joining panel and podcast discussions at key industry events. He is a self-described "journalist and analyst, not evangelist."
  • theonlyrealconan

    Not worth the upgrade (maybe if it was $500?). I will stick with my Vive, for now. Not to mention I want to see real reviews of the pro and the Pimax 8k first.

  • Junt

    pretty retarded price tbh. I was hoping to just buy the headset alone and buy knuckles and a pair of stations from valve when those come out but now I’m probably going to just wait a lil longer for something else.

    • theonlyrealconan

      I am betting that part of the problem is competition. Until the Pimax 8k comes out and hopefully Rift 2, they won’t feel the need to be competitive.

      • Yup, HTC have gone for the premium image. You can spend similar on high end monitors too. Sad though, I had this on my radar but will now wait for reviews and the Pimax before making a choice.

        • mareknr

          Same for me. This device is highly overpriced.

    • Dave

      Yeah I like most people thought it would be around 800 dollars and for the Vive to be reduced but that was for a complete package… No competition could be one reason or just plain greed could be another…

  • Knack

    Priced to start slipping behind in an extremely competitive exciting field. Hey, do you remember when Virtual first started becoming popular and there was this big company in the beginning? What was there name again?

    • Dave

      Oculus

  • A price that is too high, but IMHO for the general consumer it was not useful, so it has sense to sell it at a very high price for few professionals

  • What happened to the “deal” for existing HTC users or is that it? If that is the deal price then what is the full retail package price going to be? $999 for headset + $199 for lighthouse 2 + $299 for two controllers so $1,500 ish?

    Come on Pimax! You can do this! COME ON!!!!!

    • ipollute

      Don’t forget the wireless adapter.

      • ymo1965

        rrp £500? place your bets.

        • The new cheaper lighthouses will have a massive saving of 10% over the old ones too. Bargain for those buying 10+

    • Graham J ⭐️

      But wait, it’s prosumer/enterprise so obviously super high prices are perfectly fine! What’s the difference between consumer and prosumer? Don’t ask!

      • With a free 6 month Viveport subscription as businesses want to play games too!

    • mirak

      Maybe they will send you the base station and controllers later … for free …
      xD

  • mellott124

    Wow. That’s a lot higher than what I was expecting. It’s a Samsung Odyssey. That price for the HMD alone is a tough sell.

    • Caven

      Yeah, and the Samsung Odyssey is a complete kit including controllers. It amazes me that they’re willing to charge $300 more for a headset that has less out-of-the-box functionality than the Odyssey.

      • Jack Liddon

        It’s a bad price, but not sure the Samsung and MR headsets are really a better experience. My limited time with them has been lackluster.

        • Caven

          I can understand that. My point was that the Samsung Odyssey comes with a very similar headset, but also includes two controllers and a self-contained tracking system. The IR receivers needed to detect the Lighthouses absolutely does not justify a $300 markup over the Odyssey, on top of not including controllers. If the Vive Pro had launched at $500, I’d have still considered it more expensive than it should have been relative to the Odyssey, though I’d have been willing to pay that price. At $800, I think I’ll just wait and see, especially since that $800 would also require me to temporarily give up on wireless support.

  • Alundre

    I assume this is a typo?

    “Given the prices in question, it seems likely that some Vive users will consider Samsung’s Odyssey headset as a potential upgrade too, as it boasts the same high resolution displays, and the complete package (including controllers) can be had for $200 cheaper than the Vive Pro headset alone.”

    Unless my math is absolutely terrible, $799 – $200 would be $599 and the Odyssey at most is $499 (was just recently being sold for $399).

    • Icebeat

      I did, and I payed 400$ for it, not 800$. As I said before I will be ok for 300$-400$ bucks for an upgrade but not 800. It is almost a insult.

    • Graham J ⭐️

      Yep. I’m seriously considering going with the Odyssey myself. That way I could actually sell my current Vive used and if I move to a gaming laptop have a very portable setup.

      This really feels like a slap in the face to Vive supporters.

  • Cdaked

    It’s a big mistake.

  • Lee Swain

    Disappointing. Was hoping to help fund my Pro by selling my original. Not going to be able to do that with no base stations or controllers. I got the Vive, the Rift, the Vive pro strap all on day one. I even bought the TPcast. But as much as I want the Pro $800 for just a headset is too rich for my blood :(

    • FireAndTheVoid

      I’m wondering, for those that do buy the Pro headset now, will they be offered a lighthouse 2.0 and wand bundle at a later date? I’m guessing not. I bet these parts will have to be bought individually for a higher markup. This is particularly a problem for those that were hoping to offset the cost by selling their original Vive.

      • David Herrington

        There is no point in upgrading the lighthouses to 2.0 if you have 1.0 lighthouses and controllers. The 2.0 wands are the same as 1.0 besides having the different sensors.
        The only thing that is better about them is lower cost and larger play-space. So unless you really need to get that 32×32 foot play space then 1.0 will be exactly the same.

        • FireAndTheVoid

          Yeah, but I want a complete package so that I can sell my original Vive. Otherwise, who will buy my Vive 1.0 headset by itself?

          • Graham J ⭐️

            Exactly. I’m sure they’re doing this on purpose to harm the used market.

          • David Herrington

            Then it’s probably just best for you to wait until HTC sells their whole Pro package for $1000 to upgrade.

        • Morfium

          I thought Knuckles would need Lighthouse 2 tracking.
          I’m kinda hoping once the knuckles are out and Lighthouse 2 gets released the Vive Pro will either be more reasonably priced or ideally replaced by something that actually has upgrades like FOV/WLAN.
          Then I’ll replace my whole Vive 1 hardware and give it to a friend I’ve been bugging to get one for ages. XD

          • David Herrington

            This is a BIG misconception for a lot of people. Valve owns Knuckles… not HTC. The likelihood that HTC will get ANY form of Knuckles is very low since Valve have stated they were wanting to start making their own hardware.

            So good luck waiting on those HTC Knuckles (they aren’t going to happen).

          • Morfium

            I know that Valve makes the Knuckles. I just meant that my main reason for upgrading my Vive to the next generation is, so that I can use the Knuckles with it, which I assume only work with LH2.
            Thus I can wait until they release and hope the price goes down a bit by then.
            I personally can life with the current resolution.

      • Graham J ⭐️

        I think this price suggests their answer to such questions is “fuck you”

    • Andrew Jakobs

      It was well known, the Pro would ship without controllers/base station, and only later would the a complete package be sold.

      • Graham J ⭐️

        What wasn’t known was that it would be priced as if they were included. This price rules out getting new Lighthouses and controllers and thus selling an old Vive used. Which was the plan probably, so screw them.

        • Andrew Jakobs

          oh boohoo, they made it (for now) so you need the original lighthouses and controllers, boohoo you cannot sell your old vive to finance the new.. oh boohoo.. get a life. I really can’t be bothered with people who bitch about not being able to sell their old headset, I still have all my old headsets (or consoles and computers or I just gave them away)..

          • Dan

            Boohoo, what are you.. 12? This entire comment is stupid.

          • Graham J ⭐️

            lol we’re supposed to take into account whether you care or not? Clearly you are in the minority – a LOT of Vive owners are pissed at this pricing.

  • Hans Haberschlachter

    Just got an mail from HTC:
    In Germany it is 879€.
    In the mail they say: If you preorder, it is “lediglich 879€”, meaning just / only 879€…
    And they give you 6 month free viveport… -> So this offer is for gamers.
    How much is the complete package later? Lediglich 1499€?

  • Grant Bagwell

    It is worth pointing out for me in EU I can’t see pre-orders open anywhere, Vive or Amazon

    • Hans Haberschlachter

      I just got a mail form htc. I points to a preorder page.
      https://www.vive.com/de/product/vive-pro/

      • Grant Bagwell

        Thanks that looks to work, although EU site is still “Coming Soon”. I think I am far better off waiting for Amazon. At least their returns and service will be a lot better

  • Craig Rich

    I’ve just had the email to say it £799. Current exchange rate means $799 is around £568.94. I know that companies need to manage pricing policies to cover exchange rate fluctations, but over £200 difference seems like there is a ridiculous margin of error.

    • It is often a straight switch of $ for £ when they consider tax and duty on it. Annoying as that is.

    • Radiation

      You forgot other fees and VAT on top of it all

    • Graham J ⭐️

      $1045 Canadian.

      Hard no.

  • Zach Mauch

    This feels to me like they are trying to milk their base whom they know will pay for the best and then they will drop the price significantly not long after release.

    • Dan

      Like how it took over a year for the original Vive to drop in price? $800 will be the price for a while.

      • Tim Wiseman

        I agree..I dont see a reduction coming until they have surplus stock that isn’t selling

      • RavnosCC

        I doubt they’ll hold the price the same if sales don’t reach anywhere near original Vive numbers within 6-8 months.

    • Tim Wiseman

      But will they pay that price? I bought the vive just before the price went up and was really hoping loyally would see us get the headset upgrade for around £600. That I would have gone for, but £799 is just too much. I’ll stick where I am until something cheaper comes along. Not sure about htc dropping their price… Not something they’vE done much of in the past

    • Andrew Jakobs

      I expect the price to drop a little when the complete set arrives, but I expect the complete set to be around $900 (or maybe the complete set will be $800).

      • Dan

        Complete set for $900? Come on now, it’ll be $1200 at the cheapest, quote me on it.

    • Graham J ⭐️

      Yep. I, for one, will not be milked.

  • Facts

    That is very, pricey and only a small update, I want pimax 8k 200° fov

    • FireAndTheVoid

      By the time the 8k comes out, the Vive Pro will be reduced to $600 (on par with the 8k).

      • David Herrington

        When do you think Vive Pro will be delivered? The Vive Pro will be delivered in mid April to June. Pimax backers should be receiving their units around April to June as well but might take a month more.

        Are you saying that Vive Pro will be reduced in price by $200 in one month?

        Keep in mind it took a year and a half for the Vive 1.0 to be reduced in price.

        • FireAndTheVoid

          Like you pointed out, the Pimax 8k won’t make it to backers until sometime in Q2 (I am a backer). Even then, it won’t be available for purchase at the consumer level. By the time it makes it to stores for consumers to purchase, it will be Q3 (probably the October timeframe). By October, I fully expect the Vive Pro headset to be marked down to $600.

          As for the earliest deliveries of the 8k in April, those are only to select reviewers so that they can solicit feedback which will be used to further improve the headset.

          Also, the Pro will be delivered at the start of April. Where are you getting June? I just pre-ordered mine and it said it would arrive April 5-6.

          • David Herrington

            I bet you 1000 internet points that the Vive Pro will stay at its aforementioned $800 price tag until at least the beginning of 2019, if not most of 2019.

            It took almost 2 years for HTC to decrease the price of Vive 1.0. Why would they drop the price in 1 month???????

          • FireAndTheVoid

            I’ll take that bet. How much are 1000 internet points worth?

          • David Herrington

            About negative shfifty-five plumbuses

        • Andrew Jakobs

          Problem is, Pimax still has a lot of problems to solve judging on the latest prototypes. And Pimax has already pushed back the date a few times, so who says they won’t.
          Also let’s first see if they can live up to the claim of actually delivering a solid product with spectacular visuals..
          And let’s not forget, what will be the actual consumer price of the pimax, the price the backers paid is not it.

          • Andres Velasco

            Most are fixed. The remaining one is the frame rate, is 80hz at the moment

          • Andrew Jakobs

            Is that what they say or have you actually tested it yourself? I don’t know if they are at GDC with their latest prototype (last was CES).

          • Well, they did deliver the 4K headset so they are not totally new to delivering a product. The consumer price of the headset might even come down a bit in price as this is China after-all. The KS price is the privilege of getting it first and not waiting in a huge months long queue if they pull it off.

            On a different note, I read yesterday that somebody thought you could install Lighthouse tracking and wands without a headset for lighthouse tracking. You use the DK2 don’t you? Would that be a solution for you to get hand tracking as I am sure a lot of lighthouse 1 units will start to appear on Ebay at reduced cost.

          • Andrew Jakobs

            I don’t think you’ll see much LH1 units on ebay, let’s not forget, the current vive headsets aren’t compatible with the LH2 units. But the new pro headset is BC, which means people will propably sell their complete headset or use the LH1 units in conjunction with LH2 to even enlarge the tracking space.

          • jj

            Yeah they can’t even achieve their main feature of 4k, let alone proper 2k. Its a pretty big scam that they’re still advertising 4k, because they have not been able to get 4k to run without having choppy latency. On top of that youd need 2 cables going to your graphics card for that to work and most likely duel graphics cards to power it from what theyve said.

          • jj

            sry 2k=4k and 4k = 8k

          • David Herrington

            I guarantee you that only 15% of Vive owners will buy a Vive Pro and the rest will be waiting to see what other people have to offer. It doesn’t matter if its Pimax or LG/Google or Oculus, people aren’t going to purchase something as expensive as the Pro.

            So if Pimax prices their HMD similarly then yes, I agree with you that no one will buy it, unless of course they build something amazing and somehow it is worth it.

      • Andres Velasco

        Pimax will start shipping by summer.

        • NooYawker

          Will you be surprised when summer comes around and they announce another delay?

    • NooYawker

      Good luck waiting for Pimax to release something.

  • J-Billions

    Won’t be shelling out that kind of money. I will stick with the original Vive for now. Price point is a big disappointment for early adopters like myself. HTC might lose some of it’s base over this.

    • ymo1965

      Well, their mobile business is in tatters. Guess they think overcharging like this will balance their books lol.

      • Their VR offerings will follow suit, looks like they don’t learn that customers like a company to have some decency these days and not hide behind marketing BS like “Prosumer” to raise costs, has a support agreement that costs you if anything should break from sweat etc.

        Lets not forget that HTC are just the headset and their own old fashioned controllers. Valve hold the cards on tracking + knuckles along with VivePort which “anybody” can implement, and they are coming fast. When they come, existing loyal customers will remember the not so loyal response that HTC have for them.

    • RavnosCC

      I have to completely agree with this statement, and I was a day one pre-order… $800 for a first product that included all of the required parts (minus the PC) made much more sense at the time. But this is just seems like a shameless cash grab OR intentionally making the price too high in order to artificially limit sales/interest. (which makes no sense to me)

      • Danielle

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  • brubble

    Nope. Too much for not enough. Maybe later this year when other/more options come available.

  • falconblade

    Pre-ordered. It’s just not much money in the grand scheme of things. You all sound like… “remember when candy bars used to be a nickle”. I paid $200 for a super nintendo in 1991 as a broke kid. It was 99% of the money I had in my savings. This is more expensive even when considering inflation but not by a huge amount. Plus, Trump’s tax cuts pay for this and more. So, It’s basically free to me. I’ve spent 80K having affairs over the years. I prefer one of these cause there’s no gawd-awful pillow talk after and I don’t have to feed it. Adult hobbies are expensive. Can’t even get a new 1070 for the price of this in the days of crypto. This is a bargain.

    • Nosfar

      Kinda assholie lol, But that makes it no less true. Though 800 for a HMD only is abit much

    • ipollute

      That’s great. But for everyone if you, there is probably about 1000 people who will disagree, which does nothing in terms of growing VR. We need cheaper because that’s the only way people will adopt. And unless there is mass adoption, we will continue to get mediocre 2 hour long games.

    • Dan

      That whole $1.50/week extra must be amazing.

    • SandmaN

      I’m going to go ahead and say that ‘falconblade’ is just trolling and hoping and praying that people call him a giant douchebag. Seriously, who goes around bragging on a tech website that they not only have had multiple affairs, but spent $80K on said affairs? Answer – see end of my first sentence. Case closed.

      • Graham J ⭐️

        dingdingding

    • Wayne Hinkel

      Funny! Still going to wait for a price drop, because I hate feeling like the victim of a greedy business. (Am I referring to HTC Vive, or my mistress? Not sayin’.)

    • NooYawker

      You keep track of how much you spend on hookers?

    • sfmike

      Trump’s tax cuts…..hilarious….LOL

    • AJ_74

      80K on hookers and blow… NICE!

  • Raphael

    Selling Vive pro at 800 without controllers and lasers isn’t a smart idea. Existing Vive users would have had good reason to upgrade for a gen 2 vive for 800 if they could have sold their existing units. Now there is no upgrade route.

    • ipollute

      In all fairness I don’t think anyone understands the market. In preoculus cv1 we all thought (including Facebook) that the oculus would sell like hotcakes. Well neither htc or oculus is publishing their sells, I wonder why?

      Gen 2 doesn’t necessarily need to be affirdabla for Johnny, but gen 1 definitely does and htc isn’t making either affordable.

      Wrong move imo.

      • Raphael

        I have completely changed my opinion… reason? I assumed pro came with controllers and base station at 800. How wrong I was. Little johnny won’t be able to afforrd it for decades.

        • ipollute

          I’d keep what you have and let the market correct that BS early adopter price point. It’s not like there are tons of games at this point anyway. I mean yeah, it be nice to play project cars 2 with better optics, but the reality is that most games right now aren’t that great graphically anyway. I went ahead and purchased the tpcast instead and after 4-6 hours of flashing opentpcast and routing cables behind walls and ceiling I can definitely say it was worth it. I think the freedom of wires has more value than slightly better optics at this point. But that’s just purely my opinion.

          • Raphael

            I agree. TPCast would be more useful. I want the massive field of view the pimax will bring if they can correct the peripheral image issues.

        • AJ_74

          Muppets or monkeys…I can’t decide which is the more likely scenario :)

          Oh, btw… if you don’t already own an HTC Vive, it will cost you $530 to buy 2 Lighthouse 1.0 sensors and 2 first-gen. controllers with your $800 Vive Pro. When they do get around to releasing their 2.0 sensors and updated controllers, those will obviously be priced higher (again, muppets or monkeys).

          Ruminate on that… An Oculus Rift with 2 (very superior) controllers and 2 room sensors costs $130 LESS than 2 of HTC’s room sensors and controllers.

          • Raphael

            OctopusVR is great value and HTC seem to be pushing only for pro market with the new Vive. I would like to see a permanent reduction of the rift to 299 though to make it more accessible to new muppets. Fortunately I have absolutely zero brand loyalty so will jump to a new VR brand when I see better value. Pimax would have a significant enough advantage with pixel res and FOV. I’m hoping OctupusVR will have something new and interesting to show this year (GDC).

      • AJ_74

        In all fairness, I don’t think you understand the market either. Gen 2 absolutely has to be affordable for Johnny because Johnny IS the market.

        HTC had a sizable market-share lead over Oculus until Oculus made their headset affordable. That lead disintegrated in a matter of a months (the 2017 summer sale months, to be exact).

        The Rift has now by all accounts outsold the Vive, and is even the more widely used VR headset on Steam, which is HTC’s home turf. Think about the corporate lunacy in play here. You know you got schooled by your competitor on price, so you respond with an even more outrageously priced product? Not to mention one that’s merely an incremental upgrade over the previous gen.

        This can’t be understated. There is no market… I repeat… NO MARKET for a $1330 VR headset with the HTC Vive Pro’s specs. This ain’t the Acer/Starbreeze StarVR. Hell, it’s not even the Pimax 5K.

  • gothicvillas

    no thanks. If FOV was increased, I could possibly consider an upgrade but for this £800 is not even funny.

  • Ordered! Can’t wait for it to come in!

    • realtrisk

      Me too!

      • wcalderini

        I bit the bullet as well. (But then again I bite ALL VR Bullets). After playing with my Odyssey, it became more and more difficult to go back to my Vive with the resultant resolution drop. Had me wishing for a headset that had the best of both.
        So we got that now.
        In MY experience, and my experience only, Odyssey, although with gorgeous visuals, was a pretty big downgrade in experience once you get used to Vive’s base station tracking, and a lot of my Steam VR games just acted “wonky” while playing, IF they loaded without freezing at all.
        (And the inside out tracking DOES leave a little to be desired)
        I understand the early adoption premium cost and while I’m not “happy” to pay it, I will. (As I did in May 2016 for the original)
        What gets my goat though, is I was really hoping to sell my original Vive.
        (Headset only as the new accessories are not available).
        Was hoping to get around $300 for it with the Delux audio strap, but once I checked into the peripherals for any potential buyer, I realized that they would need to be a bigger idiot than I am to take that plunge. Bought separately 2 base stations and 2 controller wands, come to about $578 WITHOUT the headset.
        So I’m stuck with a First Gen paperweight unless I luck into a situation where somebody already has the gear.
        I’m hoping Microsoft will finally get off their asses and get the Odyssey working with the XBox One X, as I assumed they would when I bought it.
        Working with a 4790, 32GB of Ram and a 1080ti, I’m really looking forward to the Higher resolution total package that the Vive pro will bring.
        IMO, they have nailed it, experience-wise.
        And I own a PSVR and a Rift as well so I do speak from some experience.
        Hope the price comes down soon though, because I do want what I consider to be the BEST VR platform not lose any more market share.
        (and I really should give my Odyssey another shot as I am sure they worked out some of the bugs since release)

        WRC

        • FireAndTheVoid

          My plan is to wait until the knuckles controllers are released (I was going to buy them anyway) and then suck it up and buy the 2.0 lighthouses. Then I’ll sell my Vive 1.0.

        • Mythos88

          It sounds like you were having Bluetooth issues with WMR. It tracking is not Vive good obviously but it is never wonky unless you have Bluetooth issues. Many of us disabled our builtin-in BT, bought a BT dongle, put it in a USB 2.0 port with a short extension to move it out front.

          • wcalderini

            Actually tried that as well. But have not tried it in a while. I’m sure things may be better now. Did most of my experimenting when Steam and WMR just became friends.Gonna give it another shot. Like I said. My HOPE was that it would eventually be compatible with the xBox one X (I mean the machine HAS the firepower), just wonder what knocked them off course.

    • Chris Gates

      Yeah me too. Not the price I wanted to see, but it’s the best headset we have at the moment.
      Looking forward to this with Skyrim VR.

    • David Herrington

      I’m guessing you would have paid $1000 or $1500 for just the HMD as well, right? Remember developers, if people can’t afford the headset then you are developing for a non-existent user base.

      • Just because you can’t afford it, don’t assume others can’t.

        • VAVLUE

          except I CAN afford it, but paying 800 dollars for a resolution upgrade is STUPID. grats on being a fool.

          • LOL Everyone is entitled to their opinion :) Some of us will be enjoying the new units very shortly :)

          • AJ_74

            Unfortunately for HTC, you and the few like you don’t constitute a market.

            As for me and my paltry senior network engineer salary, well, we’ll be waiting for the quick and inevitable price cut.

          • Andrew Jakobs

            But the headset is meant for professionals, not consumers. And if you can’t write off $800 for the headset, than you shouldn’t really consider yourself a professional.

          • daveinpublic

            Is the Samsung Odyssey meant for professionals, too?

          • Andrew Jakobs

            Completely different headset, different audience, different type of support.

          • Graham J ⭐️

            Please tell me you’re not suggesting HTC support is something worth paying more for haha… if you believe that you should read /r/vive

          • Graham J ⭐️

            HTC is trying to position it as prosumer to justify the price, not the other way around. There’s nothing about this headset that is particularly “pro”.

            Don’t believe the hype.

          • AJ_74

            What professionals? Stop talking in vague generalities. There is effectively no prosumer/professional/enterprise market for VR right now. None. Zero. Zilch. Nada.

            The biggest market for VR, by an order of magnitude, is the consumer gaming market. And that’s seen how many sales? Less than 4 million total units sold in 2 years when you combine the 3 major players (Sony, Oculus and HTC).

            I get it; you love VR. I love VR too. I want it to succeed. But right now, compared to the expectations and hype of 2 years ago, it’s an unmitigated disaster. Companies like HTC aren’t building the market. They’re crushing it.

          • NooYawker

            I’m not purchasing this headset but what is so bad in your life you care so much how other people spend their money?

        • Andres Velasco

          There is some truth to that. The problem is that you are the minority from the broad reaction. US consumers are very price sensitive on gaming products. The Pro will now be much more nische while the regular Vive soar. The pro should start picking sales once the headset is reduces to 400-500. HTC will certainly not make the expected numbers.

          • AJ_74

            The regular Vive is already a niche product. At most, HTC has sold 1.5 million Vive units in 2 years. Ruminate on that for a moment… 1.5 million units in TWO YEARS!

            They were selling 10+ million smartphones per year and couldn’t sustain that business (hence the sale of half their smartphone division to Google and the constant rumors of them selling off the remainder).

            Every time we complain about the price, we’ll have to suffer the morons telling us we’re either broke or cheap. Meanwhile, their limitless disposable income can’t seem to buy them a well reasoned argument as to why HTC’s pricing is good for HTC or the VR market at large.

        • Graham J ⭐️

          Some of us CAN afford it but choose not to signal to HTC that this price gouging is acceptable.

          Just wondering, what will you do with the old one? Sell it? Nope, no one will buy it with new Lighthouses and controllers being so expensive. Keep it? Pretty useless with only two controllers.

          HTC has played you, charging far more than production cost for the new headset while ensuring no used market for the old one.

    • brandon9271

      If Samsung could sell the Odyssey WITH controllers for $399 using the exact same displays as the Vive Pro, then there is absolutely no reason why HTC should charge twice as much for the Vive Pro. You’d have to have more money than sense to get bent over like that.

    • Jean-Sebastien Perron

      I have the money to buy it, but why would I want to buy an inferior product with PSVR sticks imitations and limited tracking (Can it track your entire house? no). You can buy 3 Samsung Odyssey for the same price and yet the Samsung Odyssey is a way better product with support for MR, SteamVR and Oculus Store. Samsung Odyssey was released last year, Vive pro is old news now. The world is moving forward, not stuck in the past like Vive with it’s bulky 90’s VR prototype look.

      • NooYawker

        I was wondering when you would come in and post your anti-Vive rant.

      • Graham J ⭐️

        – WMR controllers are clearly a rip of Vive controllers – but with, by all accounts, inferior build quality
        – They’re both tethered and track just fine in any room you set up in
        – You cannot buy 3 new Odysseys for the price of a Vive Pro
        – Vive Pro hasn’t released yet, it is obviously newer

        • AJ_74

          A Vive Pro costs $800. 2 base stations cost $270 ($135 each). 2 controllers cost $260 ($130 each). 800 + 270 + 260 = $1330 for a Vive Pro and 1ST GENERATION lighthouse sensors and controllers (the newer sensors and controllers are likely to cost more).

          The Samsung Odyssey was recently priced at $400 for an entire month, so you could have absolutely purchased 3 Samsung Odysseys for LESS than the cost of 1 Vive Pro with the necessary accessories. Just sayin’. Even at the current price of $499, you can still buy 2 Samsung Odysseys and 1 Lenovo Explorer for less than the cost of 1 Vive Pro, which makes his point valid.

  • Dan

    Terrible price, so much for the fanboy driven $349/$399 for the headset alone.

  • Lucidfeuer

    Unjustified price, sure, but the price doesn’t matter: that’s a mediocre product, design, ergonomics with little to no upgrade or innovation on the specs. Not even considering it despite having a dozen different headsets (at the office).

  • Harry Cox

    No no no no no no no no. Just no

  • Jean-Sebastien Perron

    R.I.P Vive, the day Oculus Touch came to consumers was the begining of the end for you. Now you just commited suicide.

    • Andrew Jakobs

      No they haven’t, it’s not meant for regular consumers.. you need to get that into your head.

      • Jean-Sebastien Perron

        It’s not meant for anyone. No one can upgrade to it, because you would get scuck with one HMD (you cannot sell that) without sensors and sticks. For the price of that old piece of technology, you can get 3 Samsung MR.

        • Andrew Jakobs

          Again, it’s not meant for regular consumers… It’s meant for businesses, and businesses don’t give a rat’s ass about not being able to sell the headset after they’re done with it, it’s been written off by that time. You really should get it into your head that the Vive Pro is not meant for people like you.. at least not at this time. The high price isn’t a problem for professionals/businesses..

          • Jean-Sebastien Perron

            Business are using mixed reality because of it’s infinite tracking without any setup and because cliffhouse is Windows 10 VR. With MR you can actually work in VR. No one is buying HTC products anymore after it was revealed that Vive does not resist normal sweat and they scam people into sending their headset for repair for free then charge them 300$ for a product that is still under guarantee.

          • Andrew Jakobs

            And that’s why the business version of the vive comes with better replaceable foam.. And it’s news to me that they scam people into sending their headset in for repair for free and then charge them $300 for it (but ofcourse it depends on what kind of damage was done to the headset, if it’s clearly userfault than it’s not covered by guarantee).

        • wcalderini

          Then I guess it was meant for me. Because I bought it. (But I’ve been known to be fairly stupid when it comes to the “I wants”)
          What everybody seems to be forgetting, and what really swung the deal for me, is that this one is BLUE. Blue. Not Black. Can your fancy Samsung Odyssey say THAT?
          (I didn’t think so.)
          :)
          Peace.
          WRC

      • NooYawker

        This character only comes here to post anti-Vive post. Don’t bother trying to reason with it.

      • Graham J ⭐️

        They’ve said in their marketing that it’s meant for pro/enterprise but nothing they’ve released suggests it comes with any of the licensing/support etc. that the Vive Business Edition does.

        So far it just sounds like justification for the much higher price.

        • AJ_74

          You people can’t keep making these asinine claims about the Vive Pro being for the “pro/enterprise” market when there’s absolutely no data to suggest that such a market exists.

          If I’m wrong, please show me the data.

      • AJ_74

        Exactly.

        It’s for special-needs consumers.

  • Omar Ceja Salgado

    800? Are they crazy?

    • smartroad

      Yes, yes they are ;)

  • Andres Velasco

    Not a justifiable price. They will sell some but at 800$ without basetations, It will be interesting what HTC reaction is when the sale numbers come after one year.

  • Colin Parnell

    The VIVE is used in the corporate world a lot, a huge amount, and I think HTC are expecting these companies to order them in droves. The cost is insignificant to these corporations compared to the savings they make on aircraft, trucks, staff time etc. Its also the absolute best system on the market right now, so they can be the premium brand at the premium price. If you can wait, they will drop eventually, and as competition from others appear, they will slowly drop again. The Rift doing so well on Steam is the only gaming influencer I think. I have both, and the Rift is so much more comfortable, but VIVE is best image quality and tracking, without a doubt. Microsoft MR is a very good value proposition at the heavily reduced prices they are going for now.

    • AJ_74

      Do you want to qualify those statements with sales numbers?

      • Colin Parnell

        Not really as I dont have any, but my two sons and I spend a lot of time at many different exhibitions around the world, including London. Dubai, Amsterdam, Barcelona etc, on everything from military to gaming, retail to mobile phones shows, and at every show we see more and more VR systems being shown off for either training, media, or demonstration purposes. Companies like VW have announced 10,000 staff will be trained using VR, and there are many other companies saying the same, Wal Mart, Rolls Royce, look at past Road To VR stories

  • ymo1965

    $800? good luck selling them for that HTC. How much is the bloody wireless adaptor gonna cost after this announcement? £500 ? wouldnt be surprise at all.

    • Andrew Jakobs

      they will sell them plenty to businesses, that’s what the headset is aimed at for now.

  • NooYawker

    $800 jist for the headset? I might have shelled it out with 2.0 base stations and knuckle controllers. And even then it was a big maybe. Now it’s a definite no.

  • Jistuce

    One word: BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

  • sfmike

    Really disappointed as I thought there might be a discount for loyal current VIVE owners. Not the best way to encourage customer loyalty or promote not trending VR which needs all the help it can get right now to keep investment from pulling out. Not sure I will upgrade with no loyalty discount. Sad.

  • Leo Richard Comerford

    One obvious question: HTC has been talking up the idea that this is aimed at professionals, but where’s the professional support and licensing? The Vive Business Edition https://www.vive.com/us/enterprise/ is expensive but it includes the commercial-use licensing, commercial-use warranty and serious tech support that businesses need. If I’m a business and I buy this as an upgrade to my Business Edition Vive setup, how do I get the same support on the new HMD that I had on the old one, and still have on the wands and base stations? Do I get them for free if I use the Pro with Business Edition wands and base stations? Do I have to buy a different, even more expensive Vive Pro Business Edition package, one that apparently hasn’t been announced yet? Do I buy a Vive Pro then pay for some separate commercial-support upgrade?

    • FireAndTheVoid

      Why is no one talking about this?

    • Graham J ⭐️

      I can’t believe I just saw “HTC” and “serious tech support” used in the same sentence.

  • Mongoose333

    Yet again the UK is being ripped off. £799 UK equals $1120 US at today’s exchange rate. It should be £569 UK to equal $799 US. Yeah thanks but no thanks HTC. I love my Vive but I don’t love being ripped off by you. I would have bought at £569 but I won’t at £799.

    Another lost sale to corporate greed.

    • smartroad

      Don’t forget though VAT and other taxes are put on top of that price. Also the US price will probably have sales tax put on top as well depending on the State?

      • Mongoose333

        I think that includes VAT but not shipping in the UK but yes you’re right I had forgotten that most US prices are before tax which will probably bring it closer but probably not equal. Still way too much considering it doesn’t come with light houses or controllers. I will probably go for it when the price drops though. As a flight and driving sim enthusiast I could really do with the higher res especially for gauges in aircraft. Glad I don’t have to lean in every time I want to read a gauge in real life when I go gliding

  • brandon9271

    If LG announces their upcoming headset you can expect a price drop for the Vive Pro. I wish there were 3rd party controllers for the Samsung Odyssey because it’s an excellent HMD with subpar controllers and tracking. Oculus needs to bring out a CV2 as well. We need competition. All this focus on mobile is horse shit

  • Stewart Gill

    Hell no that price is just dumb that’s over $1000 NZD for just the headset are they crazy. You guys need to get of the crack and sell for a good price $800 for the kit yea ok that would be ok but not just a headset i for one will not be getting it at that dumb price tag. You guys are dreaming and i bet anything you are going to loose a lot of sales and clients pricing things like that.

  • Juan Ritz

    I’d imagine that placing the word Pro in front of the name was expected to quell this kind of overreaction when the price came out. If you’re priced out of the Pro set, then just look at this as a price drop on the original Vive. This isn’t the Vive 2, it’s meant to be an incremental step up for those who want or need it, especially in Pro markets. Goodness gracious.

  • $1,328.96 total(tax not included) when bought with all the needed stuff.

    VR only for the Rockefellers out there :)

    • Andrew Jakobs

      You forget that this headset currently isn’t meant for regular consumers, but for businesses, and than that price isn’t a real problem..

      • Realist

        The Vive “Pro” is identical to the original Vive except for a higher resolution screen and Steam Lighthouse 2.0 compatibility. Well, and that outrageous price tag. Just because you stick the name “Pro” on a product doesn’t suddenly turn it into an Enterprise grade product.

        “Orders placed before June 3rd will receive a six month trial of Viveport
        Subscription, HTC’s subscription content service which gives players
        unlimited access to five VR titles (picked from a library of 400) each
        month.”

        Sure looks like it’s still being marketed towards gamers. Unless businesses have been clamoring for free games with their headsets all this time and nobody realized it. Even the author of the article stated that for $800 he expected it to include lighthouses and controllers.

        Face it. It’s a money grab, nothing more.

        • Andrew Jakobs

          No it’s not, there are way more difference between the Pro and the regular version, for instance also the headgear itself.
          Those VR titles are far from all games.

          It’s their product, they can put a price on it whatever they like. And there are more reasons for it to put that higher price onto it. If the quantity of the units isn’t high, but demand would be, than everybody would be bitching about it not being available.. By putting a higher price on it, you know only people that are seriously interested in it will buy it, and then you can steadily upgrade your productionline, and with it lowering the price.
          I think when the complete set will be available it will propably be around the same price (of $100 more)..

          And let’s face it, nobody is putting a gun to your head to buy the headset. If you don’t agree with the price, just don’t buy it and buy another headset.

          • Realist

            No, there are not “way more differences”. The only three major differences between the original Vive and the new “Pro” are:

            1) Higher resolution LCD panels
            2) Lighthouse 2.0 sensors
            3) DRASTIC price increase

            Anything else is just the minor revision that you’d expect on a new model. They’re even using the exact same lenses as the original Vive, complete with their accompanying God rays.

            And of course HTC can price it wherever they want. That’s their right. Just as it’s our right to call them out on it. It uses the same LCD panels found in the Samsung Odyssey (which is $300 cheaper). The Odyssey was actually on sale for $400 for a while which put it at half the price of the bare Vive Pro HMD. And the Odyssey INCLUDES the controllers.

            Sticking the word “Pro” on a product doesn’t magically transform it into an Enterprise grade item. There are no certified Enterprise drivers, no Enterprise support, etc. HTC stuck higher resolution LCD panels into the original Vive, upgraded the sensors to 2.0 and called it “Pro”. That’s it.

            Please excuse me now. I have to go drink my $15 can of Coca-Cola Pro while it’s still cold.

          • Andrew Jakobs

            Let’s not forget the upgraded headphones and new headmount.
            It also has 2 camera’s.
            Nobody is making you buy it at that price, just go with a Odyssey if you think that one is better.

      • Graham J ⭐️

        It’s kind of shocking how many times you posted the exact same argument here ;)

        • Andrew Jakobs

          It’s shocking how many people bitch about the price.. If you think it’s too steep, don’t buy it, there are enough other people who don’t have a problem with the price.

          • Graham J ⭐️

            I won’t be. Guess what discussion forums are for? Discussions!

            Shocking, I know.

  • disappointed

    I was looking forward to $399. $499 for a VIVE PRO. I had convinced my wife that it was like buying a new GPU or a new Monitor and that it was a better version of the same thing i already had…. but at $799, its just foolish. I have the money set aside specifically for Vive Pro, but I feel like if i spent the money on this upgrade I would not be a good steward of my money. As much as I want it, there is a fine line between buying something because you want it and buying something because you like getting bent over.

  • John Calvin

    799.99 and you already need to have the controllers and lighthouses…. LOL For what? to play a broken and buggy fallout vr at a higher resolution? and a bunch of tech demos?

  • oompah

    anything above 200$ is meant for arab sheiks
    though products r good
    but what good if u cant have
    Bring these to 200$ now
    nerds

  • smartroad

    I thought it was 800 for the whole system, al’a the original Vive. Didn’t realise that it is only for the headset!! I paid £580 for my complete original Vive setup, I don’t care how good it is, it is not worth that amount. Maybe 400 I could stomach for the upgraded headset alone but not this. Should offer a trade-in…

  • Andrew Jakobs

    People, this headset is not really meant for regular consumers, and therefore it’s price it’s much steeper than the regular one. Look at the business edition of the regular one, it’s almost twice it’s price.. One thing I also think is that they just don’t have such a big capacity to produce these headsets and therefore put a higher tag on it. for serious business this price isn’t a problem.

    • theonlyrealconan

      What makes it for buusiness use? It has the same specs as the Odyssey and similar to the upcoming Pimax. And you don’t get a business liscense with it, as others have stated. So what, other then them calling it prosumer, makes it for business use?

    • Morfium

      I don’t think this headset will come with the same licence the enterprise version of the vive comes with.
      It’s even marketed with “6 month games” and the German mail said “für lediglich 879€”. That translates to “for only/just 879€”.
      Pretty sure this is not meant for businesses only.
      Advertisement on the store page says for big offices, arcades and your living room.
      Since all stuff this advertises should be exactly the same for the old vive as of now, because we don’t have the new lighthouse 2 systems yet, the only real upgrade is the resolution. Don’t see that as business only either…

      In fact the advertisement reads:
      “Ob Gamer, Künstler, Familien, Lehrer oder Unternehmen. VIVE Pro hat für alle die passende Umgebung. VIVE Pro bietet mit SteamVR und VIVEPORT die umfangreichsten Content Bibliotheken.”
      This translates to:
      “For gamers, artists, families, teacher or businesses. VIVE Pro got the right environment. Vive Pro offers with SteamVR and Viveport the biggest content libraries.”
      Both big libraries are mostly for games.
      The first 2/3 mentioned target groups are not “professional”, artists maybe…. depends I guess.

      I just wrote this because I found it quite odd to see you write down after every comment that this is not meant for normal end users.

      The high price for businesses is grounded in the licence. The licence is never mentioned anywhere on the Vive Pro page. So I guess it’s not included.

      So people complaining about this price are kinda right. There is simply no hardware based reason for such a steep increase. And there apparently is no licence based reason either.
      It’s like selling a sandwich for $4 last year, and now selling the same sandwich with an additional lettuce piece for $10.
      So by all means this backlash is kinda expected by the way they advertise it.
      If they straight out said: “the next release will be arcade specific, don’t wait for it”, a lot of people would be less shocked by this.

  • Pre Seznik

    I’m thinking I’m skipping everything and sticking with my Rift until wireless tethering to PC is built in and FOV increases become substantial. Slight resolution increases alone aren’t nearly enough for the asking price.

  • sirlance

    499.00 for the original great!…but 799.00 just for a headset too high

  • whatever

    First day I was furious, how could they do this to me!!! 800 for a freaking head set. Then I figured it out. You take a piece of paper and write down all the things you love about VR, then put all the SPECS for the VIVE PRO, then take that paper and put it on the ground by your feet. Then stand up and start leaning forward until you can read it. Once you are in this position, you are ready to order the Vive PRO. I ordered it and found this position the most comfortable to buy it in.

  • Dawgs4ever

    I would have paid $800 for the Vive Pro, controllers and base stations. I bought the Rift the first time around, so I won’t be paying $800 for the Vive Pro alone without the supporting equipment. I’ll wait and see what they price the full set for when it comes out later this year, but it’ll probably be more expensive than I’d like.

    • AJ_74

      What people need to get through their thick skulls is that it doesn’t matter what you or I are willing to pay. VR either sees mass adoption or it dies. Period. End of story.

      Take the PSVR as a case in point. It’s by the far the best-selling of all the available VR headsets (roughly 2.5 million units sold in just under 18 months). The only reason it’s hanging on is because of a 5-year-old game (Skyrim) retrofitted for VR. Where are the PSVR-versions of newer AAA titles? Where’s all the new AAA PSVR IP?

      Answer: They don’t exist because no dev/publisher wants to invest money in such a tiny addressable market when there are 75 million non-PSVR-having PS4 owners out there.

      The fact is, even an $800 Vive Pro package that included Knuckles controllers and Lighthouse 2.0 trackers wouldn’t succeed financially because none of those things are more revolutionary than the original Vive/controllers/trackers were 2 years ago.

      • FireAndTheVoid

        I don’t think the situation is as dire as you are imagining. According to residentevil.net, 13.3% of all Resident Evil 7 players are playing it in PSVR. I agree that HTC isn’t helping VR adoption with this v1.5 release; but I don’t think we need HTC to make it happen. A PSVR 2 with better tracking and better controllers with a few AAA games will do the trick.

        Within the last few days there was news of a slew of new games for PSVR, it appears that Sony is committed to VR. VR is the Playstation’s primary distinguishing factor from the XBox and it has brought them significant market share. I think they realize that and won’t give that edge up. Within the next 2 years, I think VR adoption will double or triple.

        • AJ_74

          It’s absolutely as dire as I’m imagining it to be. All of the VR sales data to date supports the notion that VR is failing miserably relative to the expectations of 2 years ago. It’s effectively a non-existent market right now, and I doubt any of the major players are actually turning a profit.

          RE7 being one of the more successful PSVR games only proves a point I’ve made numerous times, which is that the lack of games like RE7, Skyrim and Fallout 4 in VR (i.e. full AAA games) is hurting the VR market because they’re literally the only thing there is a VR market for at the moment.

          It’s not surprising that with a dearth of quality content available, 25% of PSVR owners bought RE7:VR.

  • Trip

    I refreshed my inbox several times a day for over two months waiting for my chance to pre-order. Now Pre-order day has come and gone and I’m sitting it out. I’m very sad about this. I was prepared for $400 to $550. $800 for headset only is just nuts.

  • Andreas Pichaeli

    Was super excited for this… Then I saw the price… Lol.. I’ll stick with my screen door effect. HTC, you fools…

  • mpd

    The little buggers swore they weren’t going to introduce new hardware until after 2019, so naturally, I popped for the original, since I did not want to wait two years for the VR experience.

    Now they’ve gone and gouged existing owners with a price the same for the whole kit previously.

    That’s the way to build brand loyalty.