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What is the Real Reason Behind the Oculus Summer Promotion Price Cut?

Shadowmask72
Honored Visionary
The Oculus Summer promotion came as a surprise for many, but reading between the lines what is a real  reason for this action right now? Is there something else going on behind the scenes? Speculation and conspiracy theories welcome.


System Specs: MSI NVIDIA RTX 4090 , i5 13700K CPU, 32GB DDR 4 RAM, Win 11 64 Bit OS.
130 REPLIES 130

Techy111
MVP
MVP
To drag more people in I reckon. Makes sense.
A PC with lots of gadgets inside and a thing to see in 3D that you put on your head.

Shadowmask72
Honored Visionary
There might be a little bit of truth behind all the selections I posted with the exception of Facebook ditching the Oculus brand which seems a bit of a long shot although not entirely impossible.  BTW, the choices are just some of the ideas I've seen banded about from various discussions I've been reading.

It's a bit tough to choose just one though hence why I added the option all of the above. This Fall (Autumn for us Brits) is going to be interesting when Acer, HP, DELL windows mixed reality headsets release starting at around $399+  (including controllers) making it very hard for HTC and to a lesser degree Oculus to maintain their current pricing model even if these cheaper new additions aren't as good. So if I had to choose one I would lean towards Oculus leveraging themselves ahead of the game. Price cut now, raise the price back to normal, then lower it again when the other headsets release.


System Specs: MSI NVIDIA RTX 4090 , i5 13700K CPU, 32GB DDR 4 RAM, Win 11 64 Bit OS.

RorschachPhoeni
Trustee
Could be anything of what you listed. And therefore it is very reasonable to do the price cut.
Excuse my bad english. I speak to you through the google translator. 😛

cleanupdisc
Adventurer
Im happy i purchased mine today but now i just need to buy a freaking displayport to hdmi adapter. Im happy about being apart of gen 1 and seeing what gen 2 can then offer!

bigmike20vt
Visionary
i voted get more people on oculus eco system but i think it could be a little bit of  much of the above as well  EXCEPT i do not think it is to make way for CV2

and as for branding to replace oculus with facebook vr..... i doubt it, but its possible.. but then there is no need to have a price cut for that so imo company branding is little to do with the price of the hmd
Fiat Coupe, gone. 350Z gone. Dirty nappies, no sleep & practical transport incoming. Thank goodness for VR 🙂

kevinw729
Honored Visionary

Well observed as always -Shadowmask72, have to agree with many of the points and also the summation of the issues facing OVR.


Though captured in your points, my view is more that this move is in part to send a message out there against competition (HTC, MS, etc.,), and to prove a point to the FB new team that the direction OVR previous team selected is viable, given a little love.


I wonder how much of this is a "make-or-break" position - will be interesting to see how this is positioned at OC4? And that brings me to what I feel is a greater issue with the current OVR structure; that of “communication”.


Since that abortive sub-reddit AMA back in 2015, OVR has been incredibly quiet over statements regarding their positioning, future plans and general communication with the community. I understand that they favor giving interviews that we then have to gleam the detail from, but this just breeds confusion (reflected in recent articles about the company).


I feel that the PR machine within the operation has taken a serious hit from the entrenched attitude of previous executives and has yet to rebound, or just restructure. Placing all your eggs in a few baskets of interviews and favored sources is dangerous. 


I just wonder if this temporary price drop could have been headlined and promoted better, rather than allowing the negative press to accompany what is a really impressive price drop. Managing the message would help when the price springs back to the normal amount in a short period of time!


Back to your point that this move could be part of a rebranding of the OVR operation (possibly under FBVR) - I begin to wonder if this is not something starting to happen organically already. Will we see Samsung not including OVR in the promotion for the new standalone GVR2? Or will we see an increase use of the Facebook VR term, to counter MS’s Mixed Reality, or Googles Daydream brand?





Seriously; well done Oculus on the price drop, I hope it has the intended impact on your business… whatever that needed to be.

https://vrawards.aixr.org/ "The Out-of-Home Immersive Entertainment Frontier: Expanding Interactive Boundaries in Leisure Facilities" https://www.amazon.co.uk/Out-Home-Immersive-Entertainment-Frontier/dp/1472426959

RonsonPL
Heroic Explorer
Poll is not good, sorry to say that.
Two (almost three) options is what I wanted to check.

My guess: Sales are bad, Oculus wants software devs to get more interested and more gamers interested in VR. And of course, even if they sell at no profit (I don't really think it's a loss, at least not in Europe with 450€ (with tax), they obviosly know that noone will buy the Rift to never buy anything software from Oculus Store in the future.

Also, I think something might be additionally influencing this. Maybe Valve planning to replace Vive with wireless model at same price and dropping the price of cable version? Not very likely (too soon, I guess) but who knows.
It will be more clear when we see the retail price after the promo ends.

Not an Oculus hater, but not a fan anymore. Still lots of respect for the team-Carmack, Abrash. Oculus is driven by big corporation principles now. That brings painful effects already, more to come in the future. This is not the Oculus I once cheered for.

kevinw729
Honored Visionary

RonsonPL said:

...
Also, I think something might be additionally influencing this. Maybe Valve planning to replace Vive with wireless model at same price and dropping the price of cable version?
...


Not such a stupid prediction, that rumor has been getting a lot of traction after the reveal of the second wireless Vive system at the China show. I wonder what that would do to the market, especially with Samsung's standalone system getting prepped?
https://vrawards.aixr.org/ "The Out-of-Home Immersive Entertainment Frontier: Expanding Interactive Boundaries in Leisure Facilities" https://www.amazon.co.uk/Out-Home-Immersive-Entertainment-Frontier/dp/1472426959

bigmike20vt
Visionary
i think it could be the MS HMDs also having an effect. its all good tho. so long as its decent quality VR, then the more pressure to keep them "honest" with their pricing can only help us.

that acer HMD looks pretty tidy imo

Fiat Coupe, gone. 350Z gone. Dirty nappies, no sleep & practical transport incoming. Thank goodness for VR 🙂