HTC VIVE PRO price announced at $799

HTC VIVE PRO price announced at $799, HTC VIVE price drops TO $499

HTC says it will charge $799 for its new, higher-resolution Vive Pro virtual reality headset — and we mean, literally, just the headset. Vive Pro preorders open today, with the first headsets shipping on April 5th. They’re designed to be swapped into an existing Vive setup, using the old Vive’s lighthouse tracking beacons and controllers. Meanwhile, the current Vive system will drop to $499, cutting $100 off the current price. Anyone who purchases a Vive Pro by June 3rd will get six free months of HTC’s Viveport subscription service, and a price for a full Vive Pro kit will be announced sometime in the future.

The Vive Pro is positioned to be the pinnacle for VR enthusiasts, increasing the resolution of the headset display by 78% along with the addition of built-in noise-cancelling headphones with dual microphones and a huge increase in its room-scale tracking abilities. For current Vive owners, the Vive Pro can still be used with the existing base stations and controllers, making upgrading a pretty painless process.

HTC’s Vive accomplished the seemingly impossible task of stealing both mindshare and marketshare from Facebook-owned Oculus, quickly becoming the go-to headset for PC gamers and VR enthusiasts. The Vive launched two years ago, and while the entire VR market has evolved a bit slower than many enthusiasts were expecting, it’s clear that virtual reality is here to stay.

Oculus has been aggressive with price drops on its Rift headset in recent months while also announcing the budget-friendly Oculus Go at $199. With the announcement and now impending launch of the Vive Pro, it’s clear that HTC and Oculus are heading in two completely different directions. Oculus, which prior to being acquired by Facebook was deeply invested in the enthusiast scene, is now racing itself to the bottom, clearly betting on mass market appeal and lower specs. Meanwhile, HTC is pushing itself to improve the VR experience with higher resolution displays, more robust room-scale tracking, and additional features.

There will also be a bundle that includes all the hardware along with the Vive Pro HMD announced in the future, although no pricing information for that option has been announced.