Oculus VR doesn’t seem worried about any potential competition with Sony’s PlayStation VR, by the looks of it. The former’s co-founder, Palmer Luckey, has told the IB Times that he doesn’t consider PlayStation VR to be a future competitor for his company’s own Oculus Rift, saying that both devices target completely different audiences due to the platforms they’ve been designed for.
Luckey said that:
I think that there’s not many people who already own a PS4 who don’t own a gaming PC who are going to go out and make that roughly $1,500 [roughly the combined cost of a suitable PC and the Oculus Rift] all-in investment in the Rift. It really is a separate market. They’re bringing virtual reality to a different group of people who I don’t think were ever really a part of our market anyway.
Despite what some may think, Luckey’s comments make sense. If you only own a console, you’re not likely going to dump a huge amount of cash on a brand new PC just for the purposes of the Oculus Rift. Likewise, PC players aren’t going to fork out for a PlayStation 4 to get PlayStation VR when they already have access to the Oculus. The latter scenario in particular is unlikely, especially as Luckey says the Oculus is more powerful than Sony’s offering.
It’s also worth noting that their headset isn’t quite as high-end as ours — it’s still, I think, a good headset — and the PlayStation 4 is not nearly as powerful as our recommended spec for a PC.
However, Luckey suggests that his company’s device have made some sacrifices to make the Oculus Rift appeal to as many people as possible, saying it’s “the bare minimum that’s required to make a device that delivers presence, that anyone can use comfortably. We wanted to make hardware that everybody could use. The Rift is really at the bare minimum of what that takes but also at the top end of what you can make with today’s available technology.”
2016 is already shaping up to be the year of virtual reality gaming, but the public at large is still mostly unaware of just how essential (or not) the technology will be when it becomes widely available. Either way, you can be sure that it’s going to be expensive – just like all new technology. The Oculus Rift has been priced at $599, but Sony have yet to put a price to PlayStation VR.
We’ll be sure to keep you updated on all the VR news as it hits, so stay tuned!
