The HTC Vive VR headset is now available for pre-order from HTC’s website. We tell you where you what it is, where you can buy it and how much you can expect to pay.

The HTC Vive is now up for pre-order, and is due to begin shipping on April 5th. Priced at $799US (exc. taxes) and €899 (inc. VAT) in Europe, it represents the biggest rival to Oculus’ Rift headset and is engineered and backed by Valve.

htc-vive-euro-prices-worldwide-pricesHow Much is it and Where Can I Buy it?

The HTC Vive is sold direct through HTC’s website here. The Vive is being offered for pre-order in 24 countries, below is the price for each as confirmed by HTC yesterday. In the US, the HTC Vive will sell for $799 excluding taxes and if you’re in Europe, expect to pay €899 inclusive of VAT. All prices however, exclude shipping.

Click the handy lookup table to the right to check prices in your region.

What Do You Get?

  • 1 x HTC Vive VR Headset
  • 2 x SteamVR Motion Controllers
  • 2 x SteamVR Laser Tracking Base Stations (Lighthouse)
  • Job Simulator: The 2050 Archives by Owlchemy Labs [Game]
  • Fantastic Contraption by Northway Games [Game]
  • Tilt Brush by Google [Application] *Pre-order Bonus*

HTC-Vive-Headset-Consumer-Launch-Basestation-Controller-headset

What are the HTC Vive’s PC Requirements?

To run the latest in virtual reality, you’ll need a gaming PC capable. The easiest way to check if your PC is going to cut it, is to run Valve’s SteamVR Performance Test application, downloadable from Steam.

HTC’s official recommended PC specifications are as follows:

GPU: – NVIDIA GeForce® GTX 970 / AMD Radeon™ R9 290 equivalent or greater
CPU: – Intel® i5-4590 / AMD FX 8350 equivalent or greater
RAM: – 4GB+
Video Output: – HDMI 1.4 or DisplayPort 1.2 or newer
USB Port: – 1x USB 2.0 or greater port
Operating System: – Windows 7 SP1 or newer

SEE ALSO
New Valve VR Game Reportedly in Development Alongside Long-rumored Standalone Headset

Learn More About the HTC Vive

We’ve covered every aspect of the HTC Vive since it appeared on the scene a year ago. We’ve gathered a selection of articles from that period which should help you get up to speed with the Vive, SteamVR, its capabilities and its promise.

HTC Vive Games

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Paul James
Based in the UK, Paul has been immersed in interactive entertainment for the best part of 27 years and has followed advances in gaming with a passionate fervour. His obsession with graphical fidelity over the years has had him branded a ‘graphics whore’ (which he views as the highest compliment) more than once and he holds a particular candle for the dream of the ultimate immersive gaming experience. Having followed and been disappointed by the original VR explosion of the 90s, he then founded RiftVR.com to follow the new and exciting prospect of the rebirth of VR in products like the Oculus Rift. Paul joined forces with Ben to help build the new Road to VR in preparation for what he sees as VR’s coming of age over the next few years.
  • Jack Tako

    Got mine for $900 with tax and shipping @_@

    • Heimdal

      Mine was €990!

  • realtrisk

    Heh. What’s with these VR pre-orders and websites not working at the zero hour? Took like five minutes before the purchase button appeared for me. That happen for anyone else?

    • Peter

      Same here lol – sitting there watching the countdown, hits zero, then…nothing. Went to steam instead and it was working fine there.

      €972,- here in holland inc shipping

      • realtrisk

        D’oh… didn’t know you could get it through Steam… >_< Oh well, just a couple minutes late…

  • Kyle Hopson

    Holy crap that scared me for a second…i put in all my info 10 mins in then it said they were SOLD OUT!! lol I refreshed re-entered and got my order thank god! >_<

    • realtrisk

      Ordering from Steam or the Vive website?

      • Kyle Hopson

        Vive website :)

  • Ilya Polokhin

    LOL. At 10:06EST it was saying “temporarily out of stock” when placing the order. After a few attempts finally got it.

  • bobfun

    Took a few minutes for the pre-order button to appear here too.
    Also, when paying by credit card I got a “Not in Stock” error at step 3. Paying with PayPal the order went through. Whew!

    • Kyle Hopson

      Wow so it wasn’t just me! Had to pay with PayPal too! lol

    • Sky Castle

      It had nothing to do with PayPal. I got the same error and restarted from the home page with my credit card and it went through the 2nd time.

  • Yencito

    When I did the payment they said that the package contain all of this… and… earbuds?? O_o Vive is coming with earbuds!

    • Peter

      F**k yeah, virtual earbuds.. now we’re talking lol – bet they have a single photocell each so that when u drop em you can find em again ingame.

    • care package

      Cool, now we can swap ear wax. Who doesn’t love to share earbuds?

  • Sebastien Mathieu

    Got Mine Yeeeeeeesssss!!

  • Alex McCarthy

    What about wall mounts for the lighthouse boxes?

    • Peter

      I ‘ve read “somewhere” it comes with wall mounts.

      • If it turns out that they don’t, you can use any standard speaker mounts. Mountable speakers (as in for home theater) and cameras/tripods use the same screw size.

  • Piotrek

    Got mine $880 total. Got confirmation by email… When Kickstarter virtuix Omni is shipping… ?

  • Jib

    The £30 Oculus are charging for shipping, now seems reasonable when the Vive is £57 (estimated???) shipping pushing the price up to £746! ($1037)

  • Sky Castle

    I’m excited to get my order in. Looks like I may get my Vive shipment before my Oculus and both orders took 10 mins from the minute it went live.

  • FloridaOJ

    Is this like the Oculus Rift, where you don’t get charged right away? Or do they authorize the full amount, immediately?

    • Jib

      It says on the Vive page that if you pay via paypal it will charge you right away, but If you are paying by card it will charge you just before it ships.

      • FloridaOJ

        Thanks. I’m just paranoid to try it without someone else confirmation the situation. That would nuke my account until Friday, so I don’t wanna take any chances on them miscommunicating. Lol.

        Has anyone placed their pre-order with a credit card… and not been charged immediately?

        • Peter

          I paid by mastercard, 8 hours later stil not been charged

          • FloridaOJ

            Thank you. I’ve been desperately waiting for these devices for years. Their announcement prevented my suicide. Lol.

            Seriously, the prospect of being able to create my own worlds in UE4 and etc, to escape into has saved my life.

          • Peter

            If it is as cool as i hope it will be, it might just ruin mine :))

  • Badelhas

    Any word regarding availability in other countries?

  • FloridaOJ

    Just made my pre-order… really wish I didn’t wait, all day. May shipment date :/

    At least it’s almost here!

    • Sky Castle

      Ouch, that’s still not too bad. Only one month extra wait, but I feel your pain. I got April release date for both the Oculus and Vive and even the one month wait is unbearable haha.

    • I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I’m pretty sure they said they would be rolling out retail release around mid-April. Do they allow you to cancel if you already got one elsewhere?

  • ☣graphixillusion☣

    I still didn’t receive the email yet. I have the order entry on the site but no email. Anyone else?

    • Torben Bojer Christensen

      Got my email shortly after the entry on the site. Maybe you mis-spelled your email-adress?

      Anyway, if you can log-in and see the order at http://shop.eu.htc.com/store/htcemea/help you are good!

      • ☣graphixillusion☣

        Yeah, I got it too thank you!

  • Zobeid

    To my intense frustration I had to be away from the house when pre-orders opened. I didn’t make it home for a couple of hours, but then I put in my order — and got an April timeframe! Yay!