Palmer Luckey apologized for misleading people about the Oculus Rift

As of Wednesday, the cat is out of the bag: Virtual Reality headset Oculus Rift costs $599, and that’s excluding the cost of a pretty pricey PC needed to run the thing. While this is the first time the company officially revealed the device’s price, Oculus founder Palmer Luckey did on one previous occasion say that the Rift will cost “in the ballpark of $359,” which is OK if your definition of “ballpark” is in the ballpark of “whatever.” Now, in a Reddit AMA (ask me anything) session Thursday, Luckey apologized for his confusing comments. “I handled the messaging poorly,” Luckey wrote, explaining that he was annoyed about everyone clinging onto the $1,500 price estimate, which was for the Rift and a PC needed to run it, not Rift alone. On the infamous “ballpark” reference, Luckey claims that “…mentally, I was contrasting $349 with $1,500, not our internal estimate that hovered close to $599 – that is why I said it was in roughly the same ballpark.” According to Luckey, the company doesn’t make money on the Rift. He goes on to explain what makes the device so expensive (and far more pricey than the $350 “development kit 2” version of the Rift): “A lot of people wish we would sell a bundle without ‘useless extras’ like high-end audio, a carrying case, the bundled games, etc, but those just don’t significantly impact the cost. The core technology in the Rift is the main driver.”