HTC has announced the launch of their virtual reality (VR) headset Vive in India. HTC Vive will be available for pre-order starting April 22, exclusively on Amazon. It is priced at Rs 92,990. Vive’s website will go live on April 25.
The HTC Vive will be exclusively available via Amazon India and pre-orders will begin from Saturday, April 22, Meanwhile, the Vive site will also be up by April 25 and HTC is setting up in-store experience across select locations in the country. We can expect the pre-orders to start shipping next month.
HTC Vive uses Valve’s Steam VR tracking and input technologies for its VR experience. The device ships with wireless VR controllers, room scale movement, and headset that features built in camera. The full room scale 360 degree solution in Vive along with tracked controllers lets users walk around and explore virtual space from all angles. The headset features high quality graphics, 90 frames per second video and high audio fidelity.
At Rs. 92,990 a piece, the HTC Vive headset is by no means easy on the pocket. The market for high-end VR headsets in India is still in its nascent stage and the company may see a slow start. Compared to the HTC Vive, Sony’s PS VR, which is available in the country, is priced far cheaper at Rs. 41,990 and has reportedly sold quite well. We’ll just have to wait and see how the HTC Vive fares in the country. In the US, the HTC Vive costs $799 (around Rs. 52,000). The Oculus Rift on the other hand costs $499 (roughly Rs. 32,200), and is yet to make its way into the subcontinent.
As part of its launch in India, HTC is also offering two fully-fledged VR experiences – Everest VR and Richie’s Plank Experience. The former virtually lets you experience climbing the climbing Mount Everest, while the latter will make you experience walking on a plank 80 stories high up. Both are aimed to give you an idea of the immersive experience you get with HTC’s VR headset.
HTC Vive owners will also be able to access a number of apps specially designed for Vive by heading over to Viveport, HTC’s app store for virtual reality. Viveport will offer you VR-based apps across education, design, art, social, video, music, sports, health, fashion, travel, news, shopping, creativity tools and more.
Written with Inputs from NDTV
