HTC-Valve Vive VR Headset Ships In April For $799

When Oculus revealed at last month's CES that its Rift VR kit would be priced at $599 USD, the world turned towards HTC in hopes of a price reveal from that camp. Well, it's taken more than a month and for Mobile World Congress to happen, but we now have the answer: $799 USD.

The most common reaction to this news is going to be, "That's $200 more!", but it can be argued that the price premium is justified because the Vive is the premium solution. At CES, many folks we polled about the Rift vs. Vive seemed to prefer the experience that the latter gave them, as the content generally looked better.

When we're dealing with $600 to start, though, most people are not going to like the idea of coughing up another $200. So what's the best justification? It could be that the Vive includes proper VR joysticks (one for each hand), and that it includes two black boxes that are to be placed around the room for improved spatial recognition.

Because a VR headset is useless without content, HTC will kick-start your collection with Job Simulator and Fantastic Contraption. Trailers for both can be seen below:

In Job Simulator, you must tackle head-on the duties of the day for someone working in a kitchen, an office, and perhaps most fun of all, in a convenience store. It's worth noting that this title will also be available for PlayStation VR. As for Fantastic Contraption, its name doesn't hide much: you build things and bring them to life.

HTC will be shipping its Vive en masse in April, but for those who want to get a guaranteed unit, pre-orders begin on February 29th, at 10AM EST. If you want to be one of the first with a Vive, we'd recommend jumping on that pre-order as soon as it becomes available.