Following their highly successful Summer of Rift Sale, Oculus have announced a permanent price cut of the Rift headset and Touch controller package to $399. The new price was revealed by Hugo Barra, Oculus’ Vice President of Virtual Reality at the opening keynote to Oculus Connect 4.

Detailed on the official Oculus Blog, the $399 package still includes the same hardware bundle of headset, two sensors, two Touch controllers, and “six free apps” – although there are actually several more free apps available on the Store.

This aggressive pricing strategy means that the Rift and Touch remains considerably cheaper than the HTC Vive – the main competing high-end PC VR solution – which also received a permanent price cut to $599. Oculus is keen to bring the costs of VR entry down, also announcing Oculus Go – their first standalone VR headset launching early next year for $199.

Newsletter graphic

This article may contain affiliate links. If you click an affiliate link and buy a product we may receive a small commission which helps support the publication. More information.

The trial version of Microsoft’s Monster Truck Madness probably had something to do with it. And certainly the original Super Mario Kart and Gran Turismo. A car nut from an early age, Dominic was always drawn to racing games above all other genres. Now a seasoned driving simulation enthusiast, and former editor of Sim Racer magazine, Dominic has followed virtual reality developments with keen interest, as cockpit-based simulation is a perfect match for the technology. Conditions could hardly be more ideal, a scientist once said. Writing about simulators lead him to Road to VR, whose broad coverage of the industry revealed the bigger picture and limitless potential of the medium. Passionate about technology and a lifelong PC gamer, Dominic suffers from the ‘tweak for days’ PC gaming condition, where he plays the same section over and over at every possible combination of visual settings to find the right balance between fidelity and performance. Based within The Fens of Lincolnshire (it’s very flat), Dominic can sometimes be found marvelling at the real world’s ‘draw distance’, wishing virtual technologies would catch up.