A key element to a successful launch of the Oculus Quest is the price point of entry. How much you have to give up for a console can make or break it’s launch day sales.
The Nintendo Switch launched at a price point of $299 (£279 / 329 Euros) whilst this is a low point of entry for any games console, its cost soon increases once you have purchased a game to play on it.
Today, Nintendo’s online store allows you to play demos for free, but its highly likely a console game bundle or an additional game would have been bought with the console, increasing its actual sale price of over $340-$350+.
This ‘actual’ price increase soon reaches the expected launch RRP of the Oculus Quest, which is set to be $399. It’s unknown yet as to whether any full games will come bundled with the headset, or if a free demo suite can be downloaded from its App Store. It seems highly unlikely if the Oculus Go is anything to go by.
However, with its online Oculus Store (consisting of free-to-play games) and 50 proposed launch titles ready to download onto the headset, at an expected lower price than Nintendo’s own games, you may just end up spending a similar total cost on launch day as the Nintendo Switch.
You may even be able to play more games for your money than the Switch had at launch too. Thanks to free to play titles on the Oculus Store and the possibility of cross-buy coming to the Quest, it’s without a doubt that you’ll have a few things to experience for free on the Quest, come launch day.
