Oculus’ Virtual Reality Headset Will Cost You Some Very Real Dollars

Video gamers may have to fork out some very real money if they want to play using Facebook’s Oculus Rift virtual reality gear. The geeky looking headset and accompanying electronics will cost $1,500.

But Oculus CEO Brendan Iribe made it clear Wednesday at the Code tech conference in Southern California that the big price tag is only for people who are starting from scratch in buying the technology. It is expected to go on sale sometime next year.

“We are looking at an all-in price, if you have to go out and actually need to buy a new computer and you’re going to buy the Rift … at most you should be in that $1,500 range,” Iribe said on stage.

Oculus is developing a headset, which looks like a big pair of ski goggles, that lets users play games and interact with other content in virtual reality. Oculus’s product — along with virtual reality technology in general — are hailed as the next generation in video games mainly because of the immersive experience it gives users. The idea behind the technology is to help people feel like they’re truly inside the game or content’s world.

Gaming publication Polygon has pegged the average computer needed to use Oculus’s gear at around $1,200, which means the headset itself will cost about $300 as expected. Iribe added, however, that he hopes to see the total price of using Oculus drop to $1,000 — still pricey, but an improvement from $1,500.

The company first raised $2.4 million via a crowdfunding campaign, before raising another $91 million in venture funding and selling to Facebook for $2 billion in 2014.