Australia just can’t catch a break. Between belligerent kangaroos, man-eating spiders and exaggerative foreigners overdramatizing the continent's wildlife, the land down under is a tough place to live. Worse still, import markups continue to ravage its market like the sun does its dusty plains, as the HTC Vive recently affirmed.
Few people were thrilled to learn that the Vive will sell for $800, but it’s a safe bet fewer still are happy about the extra $200 tacked onto its Australian release. Indeed, as PC Gamer reports, the headset will cost $1,416 Australian dollars, which comes to roughly $899 U.S. dollars, and that’s before $110 shipping. Altogether, the Vive will likely run Australians more than $1,000 U.S. dollars.
Just think of it as the “always at the beach” tax, guys.
Of course, $800 is a conservative estimate for any market given the Vive’s steep system requirements. An able computer could easily run you $1,200, but then the same is true for the Oculus Rift. In any case, VR is not cheap.
