StarVR One, the company’s ultrawide FOV headset aimed at commercial and enterprise use, will cost $3,200 through the company’s newly opened developer program. Interested parties can apply to purchased the headset starting today.

StarVR One is the culmination of several years of StarVR prototypes. The company has focused primarily on delivering an ultra-wide field of view (210 degrees by their measure), along with advanced features like eye-tracking. In our previews with the headset we’ve been impressed with its quality and completeness.

The first production units are ready and will be made available through the StarVR Developer Program, the company announced today. For now, only select applicants will be given the option to purchase the headset, which has been priced at $3,200. StarVR says that they expect feedback from Developer Program participants to influence their SDK and tools going forward. Currently, only select regions in North America, Europe, and Asia are eligible to purchase the headset through the developer program; be sure to check the FAQ at the bottom of the Developer Program page before applying.

Photo by Road to VR

The $3,200 price point is for the headset alone, and doesn’t include the tracking base stations or controllers necessary to use the headset. Because StarVR One uses SteamVR Tracking 2.0 technology, however, it will work with any SteamVR base stations (1.0 or 2.0) and controllers, like those that come with the original Vive or the Vive Pro.

Unfortunately if you don’t already have base stations and controllers the only way to get them other than used is to buy direct from HTC which will add another $530 to your spend (tip: a brand new Vive, which includes base stations and controllers, costs $30 less than buying base stations and controllers separately, for some reason). That means that a fully operational StarVR One will cost roughly $3,700.

SEE ALSO
Hands-on: StarVR One is the Most Complete Ultra-wide VR Headset to Date

StarVR has previously said that while their headset is designed to offer a “premium” experience and is aimed at commercial and enterprise use-cases, the company will sell the headset to anyone who wants one, including consumers. It isn’t clear when the headset will become available to all, or if the $3,200 developer price will remain once the headset becomes more widely available. We’ve reached out to StarVR to learn more about their plans for the headset’s availability and pricing beyond the Developer Program.

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Ben Lang
Ben is the world's most senior professional analyst solely dedicated to the XR industry, having founded Road to VR in 2011—a year before the Oculus Kickstarter sparked a resurgence that led to the modern XR landscape. He has authored more than 3,000 articles chronicling the evolution of the XR industry over more than a decade. With that unique perspective, Ben has been consistently recognized as one of the most influential voices in XR, giving keynotes and joining panel and podcast discussions at key industry events. He is a self-described "journalist and analyst, not evangelist."
  • mirak

    [Coughing]

  • Nosfar

    Pimax5k+ 699 , same resolution minus foveted rendering and 30 degree less fov, for a savings of 2500,,,,um if I was a commercial startup that would still win.

    • MW

      Pimax has no official price or release date (it’s very doubtful that kickstarter backers will have HMD alone in 2019).
      And doesn’t have tracking (basestations) or controllers yet. Foveatet rendering?? LOL! Even now software is a nightmare. You dreaming. Wake up…

      • Blaexe

        It does have an official price.

        • MW

          No – it hasn’t. Because this product (whole bundle) does not exist yet. What on earth are you talking about…?

          • Blaexe

            I’m talking about the Pimax 8K and 5K, what else?

          • MW

            And I’m explaining, that those products does not exists yet on the market:) For now, Pimax trying to send HMD alone to the kickstarter backers, and judging by their capabilities, they will be doing throughout the whole next year.

            They have no real plans to release working product (HMD, base stations, controllers) to the market anytime soon. So – how can you talk about the price:)??

          • Blaexe

            I mean, you’re just factually wrong. You can pre-order one for a fixed price. Sure, it will take some time as Pimax is slow in anything they do. But they do exist and ship to backers as we speak.

            https://www.roadtovr.com/pimax-launches-pre-orders-today-8k-5k-vr-headsets-pricing-specs/

            Pre-Order here, now:
            https://pimaxvr.com/collections/all

          • MW

            If you believe for what Pimax says, I have no other arguments:)

          • Blaexe

            You said

            “Pimax has no official price”

            Told you that you were wrong. You’re wrong. That’s it.

          • MW

            Pimax has many official release dates – and now turned out that they lied like crazy. How can they sale something, that they cannot deliver to kickstarter backers even in next year? This is not a company, this s a joke. So please, end this conversation.

          • Blaexe

            Why are you coming up with release dates again now? Literally all I said was

            “It does have an official price.” Nothing about release dates.

          • Kev

            They are producing about 300 units a week now including mine and I even have a tracking number. Seems real to me.

          • Schadows

            And StarVR has?

            At least the Pimax headsets are (slowly) reaching the backers now, but they have a price for that.

          • NooYawker

            At least commercial venues are actually using StarVR products. Pimax has nothing but delays.

          • Schadows

            Which ones? Nobody uses StarVR at the moment.
            Pimax problem is they need to publish regular news since they have gone through Kickstarter.
            That was the same with the Rift at that time, with people complaining constantly about delays.

            But the other can afford to only announce a release date only when it’s ready, because they don’t have to be held accountable.

            I’m not saying StarVR is bad and Pimax is great, just that your and MW’s arguments are either wrong or baseless.
            – No one has received a 5K/8K? Not a large number for sure, but a hundredth of people have for now, and more are underway (albeit way slower then it should have been). Who has a commercial StarVR product right now? No one, and we don’t even know if they won’t encounter production problem too.
            – Pimax doesn’t have base stations and controllers?! Neither do StarVR so far (I haven’t even heard if they plan to).
            – Pimax software is a nightmare?! What about StarVR which only demo their product in controlled environment?

            Why all that hate?

          • NooYawker

            StarVR has a contract with IMAX and are actually being used at IMAX VR sites.

            Aside from it’s bullshit maketing branding of 8K, I don’t hate Pimax, I’m annoyed at the people who swear it’s the greatest thing yet about 2 people actually have one.
            Every thread has .. OMG Pimax is so much better.

            Pimax does not exist yet. Stop talking about it like it does.

          • Schadows

            You do know that IMAX VR is made of a mix of HTC Vive and previous gen StarVR (early 2017 version).
            It’s like saying 5K/8K is used because there are 4K on the market.

            But I can understand your complaints. I’m also fed up about people not having tested the headset and praising it like the second coming of Jesus, or criticizing it from things they heard about the prototypes and the production problems encountered on a not-seen-elsewhere hardware.

          • Kev

            Isn’t IMAX is shutting down all but two of those sites.

          • Nosfar

            Yes it does you can go and pre-order the setup right now now mind you you are pre-ordering a hope and a dream but you can pre-order it and pimax are actively shipping product right now maybe not in the numbers they initially thought they would but that’s the company they’ve been around for years star VR on the other hand

    • brubble

      What do you want to bet Pimax will fold and run with whatever money is left. Warranty support? Dont make me laugh. Chinese companies cant and wont be held accountable for anything.

      • Schadows

        It’s not really like if Pimax was a newcomer. The Pimax 4k has been around for quite some time now (at the VR market scale).

        Sure they were way too optimistic in their roadmap to develop and produce a complete high resolution / high fov headset, and can only assemble around 50 headsets by day for now, but still, you could say they have more credibility has a company than a newcomer which has been around before.

        • brubble

          Its a Chinese company and in my direct personal experience with Chinese business practices I wouldnt trust them as far as I could throw ’em.

        • Manuel Riger

          Pimax deleted my account and preorder. I contact them now awnser made a ticket again no awnser…. i have no trust at all in pimax support. But i can garante u if u get a pimax 5k+ or 8k plz pray that u don t have any complains because than i be sure u will be lost

      • Kev

        You mean like FoxConn who makes all Apple products?

        • Santiago Draco

          Foxconn is a mfg that produces for large companies…they don’t sell to the general public. They’ve also been around forever and have a long track record. Pimax probably wants to be a serious player but if things go south you’ll likely be sol.

          • Kev

            I have my Pimax (it smokes my Vive Pro btw) and they are now shipping hundreds per day… They sure seem like a serious player to me. Nearly 100% of this sort of product is made in China so I don’t see or understand your statements at all.

    • NooYawker

      Who has a Pimax? NO ONE. Why do people keep bringing up a product that has been delayed again and again like it’s some kind of holy grail product.

      • Hivemind9000

        Use the internet. Backers have been receiving their headsets for nearly 4 weeks now (not many but a few hundred by the looks). Someone mentioned 50 units a day being produced/shipped.

        • NooYawker

          let’s see a link stating that. All I see is pimax is preparing to deliver and delays. Even in pimax website there’s nothing about them delivering.

          • Hivemind9000

            Easiest is to browse through the Pimax reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/Pimax/

            Pimax officially announced to backers they were starting shipping to the first backers in early October.

      • Kev

        They are building about 300 units a week now including mine which was shipped and I have a tracking number.

      • Devilik g

        plenty do, go watch videos, gotta try harder

    • Adrian Meredith

      You’re forgetting that the pimax is basically a counterfeit version of the starvr and as such isnti even remotely as advanced or quality. I say this as a pimax backer and supporter.

      • KinkyJalepeno

        How the fuck can Pimax be a counterfeit version when it was out first ?! You’d be far more accurate in saying StarVR One is what the Pimax should have been.

    • HybridEnergy

      Do you people have your Pimaxs yet? Cause I still think it’s gonna be a hilarious Chinese pile of crap. Like pretty much anything Chinese.

      • Nosfar

        Well everyone who has used one has raved about it minus the slight distortion in wide view. I really enjoy people hating on it it probaly wont ve as good as a star vr build wise,but it will be 2500 less and still more then adequate.the pimax 4k is a well built headset lol

        • HybridEnergy

          The Pimax 4k is a 60hz pile of crap.

          • Nosfar

            Not arguing it’s a quality headset,just its built well. Add that with most people who have tried it have enjoyed it and spoke well about it,Its pretty obvious that a lot of people are hating on it just because you need a band wagon to jump on. It might not be Starvr nobody is arguing it is,But it will be close enough to attract people away from starvr at that price point.

          • HybridEnergy

            I’m not arguing, I’m just saying. Most people liked the Pimax 4k for 180 degree (you know what kind) movies, as it was quite a high res headset for it’s time, but it was a poor terrible headset in every other respect for a decent penny.

    • Kev

      I agree. You could buy a Pimax plus an entire gaming computer system with a 2080Ti for less money than a StarVR. Also should be mentioned StarVR has almost no SteamVR compatibility as the foveated rendering requires special support from each title.

    • dk

      Pimax5k+ is higher resolution

    • haier

      guys wait primax 2022 thay give u better then star vr

  • Tags7311

    better check those stats again my friend StarVR wins. just wish i had the cash. i hope it will come down under a grand in a couple years.

    • Raphael

      It won’t :)

      • impurekind

        It probably will.

        • antonio mora

          It definitely will.

          • Hivemind9000

            It definitely probably won’t.

          • impurekind

            It more than likely will.

  • impurekind

    It’s going to be sooo utterly stunning when we get headsets that cover the full human field of view, both horizontal and vertical, that have a resolution where we can’t see the individual pixels or any screen door effect at all, where the frame rate is high enough there’s no noticeable stutters or anything like that whatsoever, and that basically just give us for all intents and purposes a perfect VR display, along with being fully wireless and so on too. And what’s truly amazing is that this is clearly going to happen, and in the not too distant future at that. It boggles my mind, and I just so excited about it.

    • sirlance

      That when pancake games die, which has mostly already happened for me, I still play rocket league, all other games is in VR. And now I’m wireless

      • impurekind

        Yeah, after VR I find most games on normal TVs to be kinda “old”. They are often still more fun to simply play and most VR games, but the stuff that VR adds to the mix is just so compelling. I for one welcome the future of VR gaming with open arms.

  • sfmike

    This sucks. I would hope the magic of capitalism and mass production could bring this price down. Sorry but I feel that from past experience that only aiming toward deep pockets corporate accounts is a roadmap to bankruptcy.

    • sirlance

      Capitalism will prevail, competition will dive the price down, if not pimax, I look for HTC and Oculus to increase their FOV in near future headsets. Valve is going to release a headset with a better FOV, Star VR is the Rolls Royce of headsets at the moment.

  • fuyou2

    “only select applicants will be given the option to purchase the headset”, that and stupidly expensive price!.. No base Stations! …Come on, FUYOU2 STARVR!

  • MW

    Pointless product. And it’s showing mass VR problems all at once: 1) ridiculous price (even for commercial use), 2) poor quality (compared to expectations), and 3) no use for it for today.

    • RagnarLothbrok

      1. Can you confirm that the “development kit” price is to be the same as Official release ? 2. Have you tested it to make such statement as “poor quality” ? It does look a bit ugly (design wise) but who cares if it’s a good quality and comfort ? Yep you’re right no use for it today, since SteamVR 2.0 is not released also which is why by the time StarVR One is officially released probably around the time SteamVR 2.0 as well and price should be reduced. Also with foveated rendering you should no longer must own top of the line GPU for best experience.

      • MW

        I’ve wrote – compared to expectations. I know how this res. looks like in HMD. And I know how those kind of lenses works. So I’m sure this is the best we can do, but it is not enough to be VR peoples expected

        • RagnarLothbrok

          Well they did exactly what I was expecting from StarVR One. You might know how this res looks in HMD, but you can’t know how does it looks in StarVR One since it’s a custom display specially produced for it. So how could you say you know exactly how does it looks like when you haven’t tried it ? Man no offense but your arguments are hilarious. For example – just because you drove a Nissan Pathfinder with 3000cc engine doesn’t mean you know how would a Mercedes ML 3000cc engine goes.

    • Arashi

      What makes you say that it’s going to be poor quality? Just go and see MRTV’s or VoodooDE’s videos when they tried it. They were literally stunned and left in awe of how great this thing is.

  • Ellon Musk

    These high FOV headsets will continue to be terrible until new lenses are developed. still glad to see them pushing boundaries, even at expensive price tags

    • Bryan Ischo

      “Continue to be terrible”? So you’ve used the StarVR? How about you write a review for us then and tell us what is so bad about its lenses?

      People who actually *have* used the StarVR One are not calling it terrible.

      • Ellon Musk

        I have used pimax’s 210 FOV headset and there is serious issues with blurriness and impaired visual fidelity. That is why Pimax will be offering users the option to dumb down the FOV to 150 130 etc. I have yet to try StarVR, but they use the same Fresnel lens.

        • Bryan Ischo

          StarVR has been noted by the only reviewer to really post an in-depth review of it (and who also tried the Pimax extensively) to have great lenses with no obvious warp and I don’t recall him mentioning any fresnel effects either.

        • Kev

          Pimax claimed diagonal FOV is 200 and was never 210. This leads me to believe you are just flat out lying. I tried the Pimax too (and a StarVR btw) and it’s far better than you describe.

          • Ellon Musk

            There is no doubt that there are improvements. I welcome all improvements to VR. But just because there are improvements does not change the fact that current lenses are the biggest limiting factor to VR today.

          • Kev

            The sweet spot on the StarVR and Pimax are really big. Like 5x the size of my Vive Pro. The Pimax lens way better than the one in my Vive. The StarVR lens I could detect no artifacts at all.

            I don’t agree the lens is the biggest challenge anymore. Had you really tried these devices I don’t think you would say that.

            I think the biggest challenge is getting developers to support technologies that enhance VR and go beyond cursory support. VRWorks makes a large difference in software that uses it for example.

          • Ellon Musk

            The reason why users cannot spend more than 15 minutes in a VR headset, why current VR headsets will not replace a TV screen for watching movies, why your eyes get severely strained after very short use, is because of the current lenses. Take a look into meta lenses. I was given the opportunity to demo these in a lab in Boston, the difference is night and day. While they are still years away from becoming a consumer product, I have seen how a new lens can fix most of the visual problems we face today with current headsets.

            IMO The priority for VR at the moment is to solve the issue of how long a user can wear the headset. You can make the most amazing experiences but they will be pointless if a user cannot last through it all without taking long breaks, constantly readjusting the headset to get a better visual fidelity, etc.

          • Kev

            More eye strain is caused by: improper IPD adjustment, tiny sweet spot, SDE, inability to discern far away objects due to resolution and so on. It’s really difficult to use my Vive Pro or my Oculus Go to watch a movie for those reasons. It just isn’t as good as my monitor or TV. Get those things right and people will use them far longer.

            That said I watched a bit of a movie on a Pimax 8k and it’s finally something you might really do. After seeing the StarVR it would even be better. The lack of SDE on the O+ could make that a decent movie watching device, I’ll have to try it one of these days soon.

            Of course lenses are part of the puzzle but most of those issues can and are being solved other ways. Hyperbolic declarations are mostly just caused by too much focus on a single issue.

        • Haliff Roslan

          there are numerous reply down here
          i am not sure someone had mention that
          starvr software fix on the distortion is perfect because it can measure your ipd and eye to lens distance
          due to it having eye tracking

      • Devilik g

        “people” lmao

        • Bryan Ischo

          OK yeah I guess I was thinking of one person, but that’s not really the point.

    • Kev

      The StarVR is shockingly good. I only tried it for like 10 minutes but the fact is it was the closest thing I’ve seen to what I we all thought VR could be like. I could see no edges anywhere except a little on the bottom. It had very tiny SDE and no distortion at all once they set your IPD. So I can tell you for a fact this device is not terrible.

  • brubble

    Uh huh…..a hefty price to play a bevy of mediocre games. Zero interest in watching films in this manner either.

  • oompah

    I bet on optical waveguide tech.
    light, appropriate, futuristic, usable, meaningful, un-intrusive

  • JesperL

    any serious tests of this anywhere?

  • Muzufuzo

    difficult to predict, there may be some new ideas on how to radically boost computing, displays, connectivity and other areas

    • MW

      I’m not talking about ideas, or experimental tech – I’m talking about hardware available for average Joe. Like in transportation – yes, we have experimental jetpacks. But this doesn’t mean anything for my/yours transportation problems.

  • RagnarLothbrok

    Thing is, that’s the developer kit. Once it’s officially released price should be reduced. And if it’s around 2000$/€ I’d still buy it. For the past 2 years I spent just as much on OG Vive bundle + Vive Pro , and additional controller.

    • Schadows

      Well you’re comparing the price of 2 headsets + accessories, purchase over a period of ~2 years, to 1 headset in a single purchase. That’s a (very) big step up .

      And dev kit aren’t necessarily cheaper. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don’t because a commercial version might require a more polished version, packaging, documentation, etc.

      Personally, it’s out of my reach so I prefer opting for a better compromise perf/price ratio.

      • RagnarLothbrok

        Sure I’m aware of that comparison. But I think for that specs I should be fine for 2-3 years unlike Vive and than Vive pro the next year.

        • Schadows

          Well, as a 1st gen, the Vive couldn’t have been long lived, and frankly, the Pro is just born from HTC’s greed.
          But I’m not convinced StarVR will be “fine” for 2-3 years either. Despite eyetracking already been available in commercial headsets (FOVE), it’s still new, and i’m sure plenty of improvements will be born from that.

  • cataflic

    “e sti cazzi!”….italian expression for: ” what the fucking hell..!..”

    • Bryan Ischo

      “what the fucking hell” sounds better. “e sti cazzi” doesn’t have the same phonetic punch.

  • RagnarLothbrok

    Define “near future”? For the past 3 years the VR industry is growing and innovating more than I ever suspected. We read about Bionic Display by Varjo , Google and LG’s 1443 ppi display etc. and we see implements as Odyssey+’s anti-SDE. GPU’s to handle that display do exist just not released. Also don’t forget foveated rendering.

    Prices of technology rise because Companies are greedy and people are more willingly to spend money on tech year after year. Every year Companies like apple/samsung and the likes release new mobile phones, flagships worth of 1.500 and above and they sell like crazy.

    Not sure what reality you’re speaking of , but not mine for sure, Forest.

    • brandon9271

      I agree that the tech already pretty much exists. Maybe not for human FOV at “retina” resolution but we could definitely get MUCH closer than we are. SDE can be eliminated long before we get to resolutions of the human eye. SDE has to do with space between pixel rather than pixel density anyhow. I really didn’t notice is on the Odyssey unless i looked for it. I think better optics and perhaps curved OLED display would be the next logical step. Major improvements are definitely possible in the next few years

  • Vivewirelessisawesome

    Hard to get excited about new vr hardware thats not wireless. Really cant go back now.

    • Baldrickk

      Wireless os cool, but foveated rendering gets my techie juices flowing.
      It sounds really simple, but has the capacity to really improve the fidelity of the visuals while also reducing bandwidth required.
      Which will also potentially make wireless better.

  • Muzufuzo

    by 2023 there will be 8K per eye 120Hz 150° headsets with eye-tracking and foveated rendering, 5nm GPUs 4x faster than now (at the same cost) – combine FR with that 4x and you get enough processing speed for displays with pixels barely visible

    • MW

      Wow man… I’m sorry to ruin your christmas and telling you that Santa doesn’t exist – but there’s no way on earth that we have those in next 4 years:) Listen to the guy who is in IT since 90’s:)

      If now, new 4k90HZ GPU cost more than 1k USD, you have to be crazy to expect, that we will have new (8x better??) GPU on the market in next many many years. Hi-end gaming development slowed down, because of simple demand-supply law, combined with more complicated=expensive tech process.

      We have old good-enough (for every modern game) GPU like GTX 970 on the market, so there’s no need for majority of consumers to buy insanely expensive GPUs from new generations. And that means – no new GPU for masses in long period.

      • Muzufuzo

        we don’t need 8x because of foveated rendering and 4x will surely be brought with 7nm, 5nm and new architectures

      • Muzufuzo

        It’s not like there a law prohibiting humans to make further progress. There is and there will be progress in VR hardware and software.

    • impurekind

      I actually expect the FOV will regularly be way above 150 degrees on many VR headsets by 2023.

      • Muzufuzo

        hopefully

  • impurekind

    Well, we already have VR headsets that go over 200 degrees filed of view. Some of the latest headsets make the screen door effect pretty difficult to even notice as is, so I don’t think we’re far from getting to a point where it’s basically irrelevant, even if we could still go much higher resolution. And if PSVR can do 120Hz then I’m sure other headsets can get there in the near future with not too much hassle. Tech is getting more and more powerful in smaller and smaller form factors at a rapid rate also, so that too is not a major hurdle to overcome either. We’re almost there now in most aspects, and I don’t think it will take more than a couple of gens to nail the stuff I’m saying. I mean, just think of the massive jump in most tech specs between what we saw with the Rift DK1 and where the leading commercial VR headsets are at now, and that’s only been a handful of years.

  • impurekind

    Eh, the Vive Pro is a better VR headset in pretty much every spec over what we had 3 years ago. And in very short time the likes of Oculus Quest, the first fully standalone 6DoF VR headset and controllers, and the Pimax 8K will release. Those are some pretty great steps forward.

  • Kev

    Honestly you don’t know what you are talking about. The Samsung O+ has no screen door effect. Literally.

    You are completely linear in your thinking and totally dismiss innovations many make regularly like that Samsung did with the O+, like active distortion profiles StarVR uses from the eyetracking data, like VRS and DLSS that give you a high frame rate in VR from Nvidia and countless other innovations.

  • Darban

    We are 2 GPU release cycles from having proper support for this kind of resolution and refresh rate. Power and price sucks today.

    • dk

      the resolution is slightly more than the odyssey/vive pro

    • dsadas

      foveated rendering and we are two cycles ahead from having proper support for this kind of resolution and refresh rate.

  • Devilik g

    fcking scumbags… was supposed to be around 1k. not damn 3k+ wtf

  • G-man

    if youre a developer you can buy 2.0 base stations from valve for $60 each and you can request a set of knuckles controllers.