Oculus: The Best Way To Keep A Secret Is To Not Know Answer

News
By Kevin Carbotte
published

Oculus launched pre-orders for the Rift this week and a couple of surprises came with it. The price is higher than expected and DK1 owners are getting a free kit. Oculus co-founder, Brendan Iribe, tells us how Oculus managed to not leak the news.

The Oculus Rift price and pre-orders launched earlier this week and the company had a couple surprises when pre-orders rolled out.

First, Oculus announced a wonderful surprise for Kickstarter backers. The company said that any person who backed the Oculus campaign for a DK1 Rift will receive their own retail Oculus Rift, free of charge. The second surprise wasn't so pleasant; the price of the Rift is higher than many people hoped for and expected, coming in at $599. Both of these announcements came as complete surprises (there were no leaks at all) and I had the chance to find out why.

I met Brendan Iribe, co-founder and CEO of Oculus, on the show floor at the Oculus booth at CES 2016, and he offered some insight into how the company pulled that off. Iribe told me that both decisions were made at the last possible moment. Oculus locked in the price just two days before the pre-order launch and the choice to give Kickstarter backers free retail hardware was made in the final days as well.

Iribe was very happy that these details didn't leak from the company ahead of time. He told me the easiest way to keep a secret is to not know the answer. Waiting until the last minute to finalize details prevented any kind of leaked information from leaving the company before it was time.

Iribe told me that he believed the company would have had to price the headset even higher, but Oculus worked until the final moments to figure out how it could be made at the most affordable price that the company could sustain.

Unfortunately, Iribe was ushered away quickly to meet with someone else, but not before I had the chance to ask how the higher-than-anticipated price has affected sales. He said that the pre-order rates have shown no indication that sales will be negatively impacted. He was very happy with the price point and is excited to see the hardware finally launch.

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Kevin Carbotte

 Kevin Carbotte is a contributing writer for Tom's Hardware who primarily covers VR and AR hardware. He has been writing for us for more than four years. 

28 Comments Comment from the forums
  • Avus
    This "package" should comes with their Touch controller instead of the WTF M$ Xbox1 controller that some users already have and many others already have the similar thing (like Xbox360 controller). I will be a lot more comfortable to pay $600 if the package comes with Touch controllers.
    Reply
  • agentbb007
    Yeah I already have 4 xbox one controllers so I will just sell this one on ebay, right now they are going for at least $50.
    Reply
  • clonazepam
    This "package" should comes with their Touch controller instead of the WTF M$ Xbox1 controller that some users already have and many others already have the similar thing (like Xbox360 controller). I will be a lot more comfortable to pay $600 if the package comes with Touch controllers.

    I'm fairly certain the Touch controllers will be in the $300 range. The package you imagine would never add up. The full experience is good value at $999 or slightly less if the warranties and support are up to snuff.
    Reply
  • Avus
    I'm fairly certain the Touch controllers will be in the $300 range. The package you imagine would never add up. The full experience is good value at $999 or slightly less if the warranties and support are up to snuff.

    Don't forget to add at least $50USD for shipping charge. :facepalm:
    Reply
  • jediTT
    Oculus better HOPE the Vive isn't priced below $600 or you'll see a lot of their "pre-orders" disappear quick.
    Reply
  • James Mason
    I bet it'd be like $100 cheaper without the XB1 controller. I'm so tempted to order a Rift, but I've never used one before, and I'm not compelled by any of the games for it that have been shown currently, but being able to play the games if they come out entices me, but the steep price and general "uselessness" of the device dissuades me, even though I can "afford it" it doesn't feel like a good use of my money.
    Reply
  • clonazepam
    17283559 said:
    I'm fairly certain the Touch controllers will be in the $300 range. The package you imagine would never add up. The full experience is good value at $999 or slightly less if the warranties and support are up to snuff.

    Don't forget to add at least $50USD for shipping charge. :facepalm:

    You will love your Xbox One controller, be encouraged to use Windows 10, its Xbox app, and happily be drawn into purchasing apps directly from the Microsoft Store. You will be so pleased with your experience. You'll have no need for Steam anymore. Oculus VR for multi-player can simply use your Username from the Oculus Store to identify you. You will love it, all thanks to that freebie xbone controller.

    Tons of stuff is probably only going to support Xinput and probably "forget" about directinput as an option. So for those in Windows 10 who wish to be stubborn and use a directinput device, like a Dual Shock 4 (I love mine), you'll have to break some integral Windows features, like the Start Menu, the Xbox app, and God only knows what else I haven't discovered yet, in order to get it to work properly (emulate a 360 controller). I'm going to take a wild guess that the Touch controllers use Xinput. It's not like the Oculus supports any operating systems other than Windows 7, 8, and 10 anyway.
    Reply
  • antilycus
    If you haven't tried VR technology with the "new" headset, be prepared to be disappointed... while it does provide some uniqueness to it, it's a gimmick like 3d movies
    Reply
  • Gam3r01
    If you havent used VR before, dont buy a rift right now.
    I used one of the earlier models at E3, and it was a cool experience. Not a 600 cool experience, but it was still fun to use. I recommend finding a way to try out VR before buying it. It isnt for everyone. I liked it, I wouldnt spend more than 100 bucks on it though.
    Reply
  • clonazepam
    17284365 said:
    If you havent used VR before, dont buy a rift right now.
    I used one of the earlier models at E3, and it was a cool experience. Not a 600 cool experience, but it was still fun to use. I recommend finding a way to try out VR before buying it. It isnt for everyone. I liked it, I wouldnt spend more than 100 bucks on it though.

    I imagine many feel the same way, and there will be tons of content for Gear VR, that gets ported to Oculus. So, in my mind, there's a $600+ hardware purchase, a ton of $2.99 to $4.99 experiences that are just kinda 'meh'.

    I need to see the retail Rift and Vive, side by side, broken down... the can do's and cannot do's of both first.

    I feel like the Rift is going to be this really closed up, streamlined eco-system, designed for the folks who don't read tech websites, and get all of their information on the latest gadgets from television and Facebook.

    I've experienced virtual reality space combat back in the 90s, but not recently. There are however some places whose opinions I value, so there's that if strapping one on personally beforehand doesn't pan out.
    Reply