• Home
  • Latest
  • Fortune 500
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia
Fortune 500

Facebook Is Slashing the Price of Oculus Rift VR Headset Again

By
Jonathan Vanian
Jonathan Vanian
Down Arrow Button Icon
By
Jonathan Vanian
Jonathan Vanian
Down Arrow Button Icon
July 10, 2017, 3:01 AM ET

Facebook is dropping the price of its Oculus Rift virtual reality headset—at least temporarily.

The social network’s virtual reality business unit Oculus is holding a six-week summer sale of its flagship headset starting Monday. During the sale, the Rift and its accompanying touch controller will cost $400 instead of $600 for the two items.

The momentary price cut follows a previous price cut in March, when Facebook permanently lowered the Rift’s cost to $500 and its motion controllers to $100, instead of $200.

Get Data Sheet, Fortune’s technology newsletter.

At least for the time being, Facebook’s Oculus Rift is now the cheapest high-end VR headset on the market when bundled with a motion controller. The HTC Vive costs $800 and includes motion controllers while the Sony PlayStation VR costs $400, but does not include motion controllers and a mandatory sensor camera—those extras bump the PlayStation VR’s price to $460.

“This is a good time to test a mass-market price,” said Oculus vice president of content Jason Rubin, regarding the summer season when people have time off from work and more time for play.

Since high-end VR headsets like the Vive and Rift first debuted a year ago, sales of VR headsets have generally been underwhelming. Although HTC and Facebook don’t reveal sales of their headsets, research firms like Superdata estimated that the two companies sold 420,00 and 243,000 of their headsets respectively in 2016.

Sony, however, said in June that it had sold over one million PlayStation VR headsets since they debuted in October.

Among some of the reasons analysts believe VR headsets haven’t been a big hit with consumers is because of the high-price of the headsets that require powerful computers to operate. The PlayStation VR, it should be noted, requires a PlayStation 4 or PlayStation 4 Pro console to function.

Rubin agrees with the sentiment that the high price of VR headsets make them less attractive to buy.

“What we learned with the [March] price cuts is that price matters,” said Rubin, who declined to say how many headsets Oculus has sold since those price cuts.

Will This Be the Year That VR Finally Goes Mainstream?

Rubin also declined to share statistics that indicate whether more people are using the Rift than before or specific details about how their usage has been changing. However, Rubin said there has been an “an acceleration of sales that has maintained” and that, anecdotally, Oculus has observed that more people are using their Rift devices and playing more games.

Rubin explained that there are now more VR games available on the Oculus platform than when it first debuted, which should make it more compelling for consumers.

“The world looks at this and says ‘why didn’t you get millions of units into homes last year?’” said Rubin. “My answer: A lot of these would be in the closet,” he said referring to the notion that there wasn’t enough compelling VR content last year to keep people engaged.

He said Oculus is working with big-name gaming publishers like Ubisoft and Epic Games on VR titles, which means there will be more big titles hitting Oculus in the near future, like a recent game based on the latest Spiderman movie.

“Content drives this kind of business,” said Rubin. “It’s not a fan where you turn it on and it works.”

Oculus will be watching how the summer price cut performs before it makes a decision to permanently drops the price, Rubin explained.

This article contains affiliate links.

About the Author
By Jonathan Vanian
LinkedIn iconTwitter icon

Jonathan Vanian is a former Fortune reporter. He covered business technology, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, data privacy, and other topics.

See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon

Latest in

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025

Most Popular

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Fortune Secondary Logo
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • Future 50
  • World’s Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
Sections
  • Finance
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Features
  • Leadership
  • Health
  • Commentary
  • Success
  • Retail
  • Mpw
  • Tech
  • Lifestyle
  • CEO Initiative
  • Asia
  • Politics
  • Conferences
  • Europe
  • Newsletters
  • Personal Finance
  • Environment
  • Magazine
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
About Us
  • About Us
  • Editorial Calendar
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Diversity And Inclusion
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
Fortune Secondary Logo
  • About Us
  • Editorial Calendar
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Diversity And Inclusion
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • Facebook icon
  • Twitter icon
  • LinkedIn icon
  • Instagram icon
  • Pinterest icon

Latest in

Middle EastIran
Iran’s missile barrage tests whether U.S. has enough interceptors
By Gerry Doyle and BloombergFebruary 28, 2026
6 seconds ago
Middle EastIran
Israel seeks Iran’s decapitation while U.S. hits military targets as Trump backs report of Supreme Leader Khamenei’s death
By Jason MaFebruary 28, 2026
25 minutes ago
AIAnthropic
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei says ‘we are patriotic Americans’ committed to defending the U.S. but won’t budge on ‘red lines’
By Jason MaFebruary 28, 2026
3 hours ago
Middle EastIran
Iran is now on ‘death ground’ amid existential threat from U.S. attacks and could ‘go big’ in retaliation, former NATO commander warns
By Jason MaFebruary 28, 2026
4 hours ago
trump
LawTariffs
‘Why shouldn’t we get our money back too?’ Normal people are starting to demand Trump tariff refunds
By Mae Anderson and The Associated PressFebruary 28, 2026
5 hours ago
david ellison
Arts & EntertainmentHollywood
20 years ago, David Ellison’s flop as an actor stressed him out so much he went to the hospital. Now he’s set to own Paramount and Warner
By Matt Sedensky and The Associated PressFebruary 28, 2026
5 hours ago

Most Popular

placeholder alt text
Success
Japanese companies are paying older workers to sit by a window and do nothing—while Western CEOs demand super-AI productivity just to keep your job
By Orianna Rosa RoyleFebruary 27, 2026
1 day ago
placeholder alt text
Success
Walmart exec says U.S. workforces needs to take inspiration from China where ‘5 year-olds are learning DeepSeek’
By Preston ForeFebruary 27, 2026
2 days ago
placeholder alt text
Personal Finance
Current price of gold as of February 27, 2026
By Danny BakstFebruary 27, 2026
1 day ago
placeholder alt text
Law
China's government intervenes to show Michigan scientists were carrying worms, not biological materials
By Ed White and The Associated PressFebruary 26, 2026
2 days ago
placeholder alt text
AI
The week the AI scare turned real and America realized maybe it isn't ready for what's coming
By Nick LichtenbergFebruary 28, 2026
12 hours ago
placeholder alt text
Economy
Come 2030, the U.S. deficit will be worth 5.9% of GDP—more than spending on Social Security, and equal to major health programs
By Eleanor PringleFebruary 26, 2026
2 days ago

© 2026 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.