The Oculus Rift’s price cut has given it a big boost in users on Steam

Over the course of the Summer, Oculus has been making a big push to get the Oculus Rift and Touch controllers in the hands of more consumers. Not only did many games go on sale but the Rift+Touch bundle was cut down to just £399 and it appears to have paid off as the Steam Hardware Survey now shows the Rift sitting a lot closer to the HTC Vive In terms of market share.

In the past, the Oculus Rift hasn't fared too well against the HTC Vive when it comes to Steam's hardware survey. There are two explanations for this, the first would be lower sales but you also need to take into account the fact that Oculus Home exists, so not every single Rift owner is going to be using SteamVR. Still, it seems the latest sales push has placed the Rift in a much better position on Steam, with a 43.8 percent share of the VR headset market on Steam.

By comparison, the HTC Vive has fallen down by around 7.7 percent since July. Right now, the Vive sits with a 52.3 percent share, so it still has the majority but Oculus is certainly catching up at a relatively quick pace. If Oculus can keep its price down for a bit longer before reverting to £499, then it could rack up a few more sales.

HTC has also been fighting back with a price cut of its own, though the company couldn't get the Vive down to £399. With the current price cut, the HTC Vive costs around £600, so it is still significantly more expensive than the Rift, though that gap will close once the summer sale ends, as the Rift+Touch bundle will then cost £499.

KitGuru Says: Oculus seems to be doing very well at the moment, though it will be a shame to see that £399 price tag disappear. If Oculus could have done that from day one, I imagine the company would have avoided a lot of the bad PR it received at launch. 

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