Oculus VR founder Palmer Luckey has accepted blame for the backlask over the unexpected high price of the virtual reality headset.
The device will cost $599 nearly double the much touted $350 price tag initiaslly put forward by Luckey at Oculus Connect in September.
Responding to questions during a Reddit AMA session late on Wednesday evening, Luckey said: “I handled the messaging poorly.”
He explained how the first mention of the $350 figure came at a time of frustration, as media outlets began reporting the Rift would cost $1,500, not taking into account that figure included a high-end PC rig that would be sold separately.
Effectively, he revealed, the internal plans were for a $599 price tag all along.
He wrote: “As an explanation, not an excuse: during that time, many outlets were repeating the “Rift is $1500!” line, and I was frustrated by how many people thought that was the price of the headset itself.
“My answer was ill-prepared, and mentally, I was contrasting $349 with $1500, not our internal estimate that hovered close to $599 – that is why I said it was in roughly the same ballpark.”
He also apologised and said he and the Oculus team “did not do a good job of fixing” the perception that the $350 DK2 device and the consumer Rift would cost the same, despite the latter boasting far more advanced technology.
The Rift headset will cost £499 in the UK, but, despite pre-orders opening on Wednesday, a solid release date for the headset has not been set.