HTC Vive has announced that they are putting the Vive Cosmos on sale until the 10th of January. This is a limited time sale that is going to bring the price point of the headset down $100, from $700 to $600. This deal started on New Years Day but went mostly unnoticed due to the national holiday. This deal is only available in the United States and Canada. There is no word on whether this deal will expand in the coming weeks.
This deal is not only coming online but to customers in the retail storefronts as well. If you know a store that currently is selling the Vive Cosmos, you’ll be able to go pick up the headset on a discounted price until next Friday night.
This isn’t the first headset that we have seen go on sale this holiday season, and we are purely shocked that the Cosmos hadn’t gone on sale before today. There are a few things that likely played into this, as Vive is certainly doing everything in their power to ensure they make some money back with this headset.
The Oculus Quest and the Valve Index are the only other major headsets to not see a sale in the past few weeks. Both headsets though, are heavily back-ordered. No reason to put a fantastic selling product on sale. The Rift S saw a sale though, as well as other majors headsets across the globe.
The Vive Cosmos flopped out of the gate, but the headset is slowly starting to see more numbers in the sales department. The headset was riddled with problems upon release, though most of the problems have been polished over. Through impressive software updates, Vive has nearly saved this product and the future of their consumer-sided headsets.
Even though the price point isn’t near the Rift S, the discount is going to help that a bit. The Rift S is the headset most comparable to the Cosmos, and the Rift S is $300 cheaper. If the Cosmos can see success with the sales within the next week, Vive could be looking at the possibility of permanently changing the price of their latest consumer-focused virtual reality headset.
The Cosmos is stuck in the middle right now. If customers are looking to spend more than $500, many will simply save until they can pay for the Valve Index. If they aren’t wanting to spend that cash, the Rift S or Quest are the best options. There isn’t a middle price market for virtual reality right now, and the Vive Cosmos was unable to create one. There is going to be a need for more add-ons, or a permanent price reduction to the headset if it is going to see any more success going forward. For more VR news and community updates, make sure to check back at VRGear.com.
