HTC Vive Is $800, Arrives in April

HTC Vive, the virtual reality headset from HTC and Valve, will ship in April, priced at $800. That's $200 north of the Oculus Rift headset, which costs $600 and arrives at the end of March.

Pricing for Vive was confirmed today at the Mobile World Congress. As reported by GameSpot sister site CNET, the Vive Consumer Edition will come with the headset, two wireless controllers, two "base stations," a link box (to connect to your PC), and a pair of Vive earbuds. Preorders open at 7 AM PST on February 29.

You will also need a capable PC rig to use Vive.

"There is nothing else that can do what the Vive does," HTC virtual reality VP Dan O'Brien told CNET.

The big difference between Vive and Rift is that Vive's Consumer Edition comes with controllers, while Rift's base package does not (it instead comes with a remote control and an Xbox One controller). Rift's Touch controllers go on sale later this year.

"It's more compelling than buying things piecemeal," O'Brien said about Vive's offering.

Vive units will ship with two free games: Job Simulator and Fantastic Contraption. Even more games for the device will be announced at the Game Developers Conference in March. Additionally, games for Vive will be sold through Valve's uber-popular Steam platform.

Head to CNET to get all the launch details for HTC Vive.

GameSpot tried HTC Vive and reported that the headset demonstrates the future of virtual reality better than any other device. Sony's PlayStation VR also launches this year, but the company has yet to announce pricing details for it.