Oculus Rift One Day Free

The Oculus Rift, an HD headset that fully immerses gamers in a 3D play space, was easily one of our favorite experiences at E3 2013. Heading into the trade show we knew the Oculus Rift was something special, we just didn't know how special it would be.

However, with an exciting piece of technology always comes a price. And for now the Oculus Rift sits behind a pretty hefty $300 price tag. In other words, if you're not a die-hard gamer, you're likely not getting one any time soon.

That could change in the future, though, as Oculus CEO Brendan Iribe imagines a time when the Oculus Rift might be significantly cheaper, or maybe even free. He believes that if enough publishers rally behind the revolutionary headset, they might help subsidize the price, making it more affordable for gamers.

Iribe proposed this idea at the Develop Conference in Brighton, saying that the price is "set" at $300, but there is the "potential that it could get much less expensive with a few different relationship and strategies." Those relationships would likely be formed with the major console makers like Sony and Microsoft, who could potentially make the Oculus a key part of their respective platform's bundles. Imagine: instead of a Kinect of a PlayStation Eye, gamers got an Oculus Rift.

However, with less than a hundred games supporting the Oculus Rift as of this writing, it would be hard to pitch those console makers on the device's potential. Not only that, it would be harder to sell the general public on the Oculus without a live demo. The Oculus Rift is very much a "see it to believe it" type of proposition.

As of right now the Oculus Rift is only available in development kit form, with a retail launch scheduled for some time later this year. Hopefully, after the headset gets into a few thousand more households, then maybe we can talk about its potential.

How much would you pay for an Oculus Rift? Do you think the Oculus Rift will eventually come pre-packaged with consoles?

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Source: Edge