Sony has revealed that its PlayStation VR virtual reality headset will be available starting October 13th.
First unveiled in March, the headset is priced at $399, making it significantly cheaper than the $599 Oculus Rift or $799 HTC Vive. But unlike those headsets, which are designed to work with high-end gaming PCs, the PlayStation VR plugs into a Sony PlayStation 4 game console, which could make Sony’s entry into the virtual reality space one of the most affordable high-end VR options.
Note that the $399 price tag is just for the headset. If you don’t already have a PS4 camera and Move controllers, then you can buy a PlayStation VR bundle that includes them for $499.
So let’s do the math:
- PS4: $349
- PlayStation VR: $399
- Camera and Move controllers: $100
- Total: $898
That ain’t exactly cheap. But it is cheaper than spending $1000 or more on a gaming PC and then spending nearly as much on a headset.
Or you could just spend $130 on a cheap all-in-one headset with a 1080p display and the guts of a smartphone.
Sony’s PlayStation VR is expected to support more than 50 games at launch and features a 5.7 inch, 1920 x 1080 pixel display witha  120 Hz refresh rate, a 100 degree field of view, and 18 ms of latency.