HTC Vive, the latest virtual reality system from HTC, will cost $799, much higher than the cost of Oculus Rift, another VR headset that many consumers thought was highly priced at $599. The Taiwanese brand announced the details of the Vive at the ongoing Mobile World Congress at Barcelona, Feb. 21.
"With the Vive consumer edition we are now able to realize our ultimate vision; bringing Vive into homes around the globe so that people can experience immersive virtual reality in a way that fires the imagination and truly changes the world," said Cher Wang, chairwoman and ceo, HTC in an official blog post.
The HTC Vive kit will include a headset, two wireless controllers and two room-scale motion tracking base stations.
HTC revealed that HTC Vive featured an updated head strap and ability to integrate phone functionality, which the company called Vive Phone Services. The Vive Phone Services will let users respond to calls, text messages and check calendar. It assured users that all these activities can be done without removing the VR headset.
The HTC Vive kit will also be shipping with two "full-fledged VR experiences to get you [consumers] started in the virtual world," namely:
- "Job Simulator" from Owlchemy Labs
- "Fantastic Contraption" from Northway Games and Radial Games
HTC also assured that it is working with developers for content creation in sectors like entertainment, retail, education, design, healthcare and automotive industry.
HTC Vive will start shipping from early April 2016 and preorders will be available from Feb. 29, 10 a.m. EST.
HTC Vive will be powered by Steam VR and was developed in partnership with Valve.
