Cheaper version of Oculus Rift ‘very unlikely’, says co-founder

The Oculus Rift was officially made available for pre-order yesterday, revealing the price for the virtual reality headset. The $599 price tag, regarded as "obscenely cheap" by Oculus co-founder Palmer Luckey, has been widely considered as too expensive for a peripheral.

Luckey went on to apologize that the official price for the Rift didn't match the public's expectations, but that doesn't mean the headset will be seeing a reduction in price anytime soon.

When asked whether we could expect a cheaper version of the Rift, without the Xbox One controller, headphones, and games, Luckey said it is 'very unlikely' that we will see that kind of reduction.

"Very unlikely for the first generation of Rift," wrote Luckey on Reddit. "A standardized system is in the best interest in developers trying to reach the widest audience, and we cannot significantly reduce the cost without dramatically reducing quality."

Luckey couldn't reveal what went into the $599 cost of production, but assured the community with "whatever credibility" he has left that individuals pre-ordering the Rift are "getting a pretty crazy deal."

Looking back to 2013, prior to the Xbox One's release, Microsoft had said something similar about the Xbox One being offered for less by removing the Kinect. "We have no plans to introduce an Xbox One without Kinect," a spokesperson said at the time. Microsoft did go on to remove the Kinect and offer a cheaper Xbox One, bringing a jump in sales for the console.

Whatever the case may be, the $599 virtual reality headset is experiencing more pre-orders than expected.