Back in July, Oculus VR announced it was cutting the price of the Oculus Rift plus Touch bundle to just $399 for a limited time. When that deal finished at the end of the summer, the price will only go back up to $499. Oculus and parent company Facebook clearly want to sell a lot more headsets, but now HTC is striking back with a Vive price cut.
The HTC Vive was $799. Now it's $599.
That's still more expensive than the Oculus Rift, but much closer compared to a few days ago. In terms of picking one over the other, that's tough. From what I've read about both VR solutions, they are quite evenly matched. Ultimately it comes down to trying out both and seeing which you prefer.
According to TechCrunch, HTC believes the Vive offers a "more premium experience" compared to the Rift (we think the Vive is the most comprehensive virtual reality system). Back in March, HTC executive Patrick Seybold stated no price cut was planned for the Vive, but with Oculus getting aggressive on pricing, HTC's hand has clearly been forced to keep sales healthy. Remaining $100 more expensive than your main competition isn't ideal, though. And right now it's $200 more expensive!
I suspect if this $200 price drop doesn't work to increase sales compared to the Rift then HTC will be forced to revisit pricing once again. The good thing about lowering it now is there's a few months to review before the holiday season begins and a perfect excuse to introduce an even lower price.