HTC Vive is cutting the price of its enterprise-focused (and very expensive) PC VR headset, the HTC Vive Pro.
Starting today, the standalone Vive Pro, which includes just the headset alone, costs $599 (or £599). That’s $200 less than its original $799 price. In fact, it’s actually even cheaper than HTC’s new consumer-level VR headset, the Vive Cosmos. That costs $699, but also comes with two hand-tracking controllers and embedded sensors for inside out tracking. The standalone Vive Pro doesn’t have controllers, nor the external SteamVR sensors to track the headset. So, to be clear, the standalone kit is only a viable option if you already own SteamVR base stations and Vive controllers.
$599 also puts Vive Pro’s standalone headset at $200 more than the $399 Oculus Rift S and Oculus Quest.
You can, however, get a Vive Pro, two controllers and two SteamVR 1.0 base stations for the new price of $899. Or you could even upgrade to the ‘Full Kit’, which includes SteamVR 2.0 base stations, for $1199. That’s $200 more than the $999 Valve Index, which also includes 2.0 base stations and its own Index Controllers.
Again, it’s important to stress that Vive Pro is a business-level device. HTC won’t stop consumers from purchasing the kit, but even with these cuts, its price is still very much aimed at companies over consumers.
Vive Pro is still an incredibly expensive proposition, then, and many of the features that headlined the device when it released in 2018 — upgraded resolution and improved comfort — have either been met or surpassed in other products, even some from HTC. Last year, for example, the company launched the Vive Pro Eye, which is essentially the same device but with eye-tracking. That device hasn’t received a price cut today ($1,599 for the full kit). Cosmos, too, beats Pro’s resolution.
Earlier this week HTC canceled appointments with the press at CES 2020. At the time the company told us that it had a “new vision” for Vive that it would share later in the year, likely around Mobile World Congress in Barcelona next month. We speculated that perceived struggles with the launch of the Vive Cosmos might mean that the company is doubling down on its enterprise business. Cutting the price of the original Vive Pro might support that theory.
Would you get a Vive Pro at this new price? Let us know in the comments below!
