Vive Focus dev kits are headed outside of China today to international developers looking to create for the company’s standalone VR headset, which first arrived to Chinese consumers back in January. Apparently HTC is lowering the price for some devs, although the total price sans discount appears to be approximately the same premium price tag the headset carries in its home country.
As reported by German VR publication VRODO, European-based developers will be eligible to receive a €200 rebate off the overall price of the Vive Focus dev kit if ordered before June 4th.
HTC told Road to VR that developers who register and apply for a dev kit via this site may receive a coupon for ~$200 off (or local currency equivalent). The company is currently evaluating criteria of the applications so that the coupons go to developers with “the most immediate impact / projects.” Selected developers will receive a coupon code via email, which then can be applied at purchase. These codes expire on June 4th.
VRODO reports Vive Focus will have a cost of €464 (~$560) after the discount is applied, which includes postage and value-added tax (VAT), which typically runs around 19-23% depending on European country.
At least as quoted by HTC on its developer site, the entire price of the bundle comes to a whopping €650 (tax included), costing devs taking advantage of the rebate a lesser, but still substantial €450. Below you can see the Development Edition, which is slated to launch at the end of May in Germany.
There is no official pricing for the consumer version yet, although it’s doubtful it will stray much further from the quoted price above, since the developer kit is likely to be the exact same hardware.
We don’t have any information on US developer kit prices yet, but will update as soon as we do. Something to bear in mind: US prices are inherently different from their European counterparts due to lower taxes, which possibly puts the developer kit into the $500-$550 range before local US taxes are applied, or an equivalent discount that European devs received.
Either way, Vive Focus is living up to its name as a 6DOF headset (3DOF controller) with best in-class displays—and any way you slice it, that’s definitely coming at a premium. Check out our hands-on here for a closer look at what makes Vive Focus tick.
Update (04/10/18): HTC reached out to Road to VR to provide a direct link to the application website and clarify that selected developers of impactful projects could receive a ~$200 (or local currency) discount off the developer kit version. This information is included above.
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