Oculus Rift preorders available in Taiwan and Japan, but cost a small fortune

Fans of virtual reality may already know: preorders for the Oculus Rift headset have begun. The thing won’t actually ship until later this year (March, the company estimates), but people in 20 countries around the world, including Taiwan and Japan, can plonk down their cash right now to reserve a unit.

If you do want in on the ground floor of the long-predicted VR revolution, though, it’s going to cost you. The Rift’s American base price is US$599, but in Taiwan it costs US$650 and the Japanese price of Y83,800 is equivalent to more than US$700. And that’s before shipping costs, which are likely to be substantial.

The VR revolution is gonna cost you.

Granted, for that price you get the Rift headset, sensor, an Oculus Remote, a Microsoft Xbox One controller (which works with Windows) and access to two games: Eve Valkyrie and Lucky’s Tale. But the initial response among many global VR fans is that the Rift is too expensive, especially given its stringent PC recommendations. The Rift’s official PC spec recommendations include a very high-end video card (NVIDIA GTX 970/AMD 290 or better) and at least 8 GB of RAM. Very few PC owners have machines that high end, meaning that for most people, actually using the Rift not only means eating the US$600-plus purchase price, it also means investing at least US$300 in a new video card for your PC. For many, especially gamers in Asia who have to deal with import duties and shipping costs, the total investment in the Rift experience could take them to well over US$1,000.

Some have also questioned why there aren’t more bundle options available. The inclusion of a Microsoft Xbox One controller, for example, must have boosted the Rift’s price a bit – those controllers retail for US$50. But many PC gamers already own a controller, and aren’t interested in paying extra for something they already have. The same may be true of the games; Lucky’s Tale and Eve Valkyrie are very different and users who like one may not be interested in the other. Did their inclusion in the bundle drive up the price too? Why don’t users have the option of just purchasing the headset and sensor?

Oculus CEO Palmer Luckey has said that Rift pre-orders won’t sell out, so you can put in your order whenever. The company will also sell Rift + PC bundles for those who need a full system upgrade, but those aren’t available yet. Luckey says those will start at US$1,499. He’s also pointed out that users who don’t want the Xbox One controller can simply sell it to make some of their money back, although that’s a hassle most probably won’t bother with.

Follow our coverage of the Consumer Electronics Show here.