HTC Vive Pro “starter” price down to $1,100 with accessories

New $300 tracking bundle makes a still-pricey VR headset a bit more affordable.

New Vive Pro owners will no longer have to pay over $450 for the tracking and controller accessories needed to use the higher-resolution VR headset. HTC announced this morning that a new SteamVR 1.0 tracking bundle, including two tracking boxes and two hand-tracking controllers, will be available starting Thursday for $299.
That brings the "starter" price for a new Vive Pro headset down to about $1,100, while those upgrading from the original Vive can still buy the headset alone for $799. The lower-resolution original Vive package, which also includes two tracking stations and two controllers, now retails for $499, or $200 more than the accessories alone.

"Based on feedback we’ve seen, we realize there was some confusion on the upgrade-only headset, so we’re making this new bundle available on Vive.com for everyone else," HTC said in a statement. "For the majority of consumer users, we believe 1.0 tracking (5 meters by 5 meters) offers a great tracking solution for room-scale VR."

That statement alludes to the coming release of SteamVR's version 2.0 tracking update, which developers started testing last month and supports spaces up to 10 times as large as the current standard by using four tracking boxes. We're also still awaiting more information on Valve's teased "Knuckles" controller, which promises freer finger movement than the current wands. With no concrete timing or pricing details on these, though, it might be difficult for the potential Vive Pro audience to wait.
With the new accessory pricing, the "starter" price for the Vive Pro is still $600 more than the original Vive. As we highlight in our review of the higher-resolution hardware this morning, that's a pretty dear price to pay for a subtle visual upgrade to what's essentially the same VR experience.