The HTC Vive is currently one of the few virtual reality (VR) headsets available in the market at the moment, although admittedly it isn’t exactly cheap. This means that users looking to adopt the platform will have to spend quite a bit of money, especially if they are planning on purchasing in bulk and using it in group settings.
However that may no longer be the case as HTC has since announced the HTC Vive Group Edition. This is basically a bundle that will come with ten Business Edition headsets along with two base stations that will cost 50,000 yuan, which is roughly $7,257 after conversion. No doubt this is still quite expensive, but according to Engadget’s calculation, it represents savings of as much as 40% over the traditional Business Edition pricing.
It should be noted that these headsets will not come with any controllers, meaning that if users want controllers they’ll have to fork out money. Now you might think that removing the controllers would make it somewhat limiting in terms of use, but it has been suggested that this could be ideal for tours, seated experiences, or maybe even used at cinemas where virtual reality movies can be shown without the need for controller input.
At the moment it seems that the Group Edition bundle is limited to China, but we wouldn’t be surprised if it eventually made its way to other parts of the world should the program prove to be successful.
Filed in . Read more about HTC, HTC Vive and Virtual Reality (VR).