I posted this to the Oculus Facebook group and I figured I would copy it here. I will openly admit, I am Oculus-biased, but from my technological experience and opinion, I think the pricing is justifiable.

(Tl;dr is at the bottom, for anyone who doesn't want a long read.)

Here's my little rant:

I wish people would stop whining about the price of the Oculus Rift. I want to justify things for those who don't understand the full picture, that way you don't hurt the VR industry because you can't buy it on day one. If you've ever complained about the price, or have suggested another headset and that people should boycott the Oculus Rift, please keep reading.

As a computer IT grad, hobbyist, and as a rift-lover who knows a little something about economics, logic, and a sense of where the Oculus company is going: let me try to explain things for everyone. From there, you are welcome to draw your own conclusions.

First of all, we have all bought game consoles or televisions that, at one time, were well over $600 when they first came out. The key words being "when they first came out." Oculus has specifically stated on numerous videos that the screens in the consumer rift are custom made. Now speaking on economics, having custom made hardware like that is not a small-business thing and it is quite expensive until you start getting a dedicated manufacturer. Simply put, yes, the rift will cost a lot for the first year, maybe two, but the cost will eventually drop as production is more fluid and dedicated.

Now this isn't the first time VR has been around. Don't forget, we've had the virtual boy, a few others if memory serves me well, and we have just passed a huge 3D phase where it is becoming a bit more common for us gamers. So from what we've seen with previous VR, some 3D, and even the DK1 is the refresh rate. At that rate, you're not getting a "real" fluidity which can cause headache pains or throw out immersion. To compensate for this, the custom displays are 90hz. Why not 120, you ask? Fantastic point, curious rifters! You see the human vision only catches so fast a speed; if you were to look at the left side of the room, then the right in quick succession, you'll see what is known as "motion blur." This is because the brain cannot keep up for the speed. Now 60 fps does not work for us because its too slow, but the thing is, 120 fps looks "freakish" because it's actually displaying in a speed FASTER than we can normally see. Basically, no motion blur and the brain doesn't comprehend this as normal movement. If you don't have a 120hz monitor or TV, go take a stroll by the local electronics department and look for the TV that looks "freakishly smooth." Bingo. That's the problem I'm talking about.

Another problem we have is the screen door effect. In the DK1, it was very, very prominent; in the DK2, not so much. The larger, and custom, screens of the consumer rift address the screen door, as well as the distance between your eyes. The screens can now move with the lenses to fit your eyes best; I'll also note the lenses are far better, fit perfectly for the screens and the rift itself, far better than the DK1 and DK2. For those who don't have a rift, try putting your head very close to your TV until you see the spacing of the pixels. While not the "best" representation, this is sort of how the spacing is for a dev kit rift. You see a faint black "pixel outlining," if you will, which looks like you're watching something through a screen door.

Next we have tracking. The tracking in the DK1 was great as it is, but it had a few bugs. For one, there was no forward/backward movement, only left/right/up/down. Well they took those methods, then added a camera with IR LED mapping to view the rift from all the above dimensions, making it a smoother experience. The better the tracking, the less interruptions (or tracking drift, which WOULD have put you off center a lot) in your immersion and experience. These problems have all been fixed so that it is hard to remember that you're wearing a headset.

Another point of interest is the weight. Now the DK1 wasn't too bad, honestly. It was a bit heavy, but as long as you were careful, you could game for a while until the previously mentioned problems gave you a headache or nausea. Having trained my eyes for unaided 3D viewing, among other 3D implementation, don't get headaches or nausea very easily at all, but it will still eventually happen with the dev kits. The consumer rift, however, is supposed to be lighter than DK2 but a tad heavier than the crescent bay prototype. To do this, while still making the product durable, is hard but worth the time and effort to say the very least. In the Oculus Touch devices, we can even look forward to virtually "weightless" controllers so our arms don't get tired picking up every pot, jar, and rock out of the sheer excitement that we just can.

Finally, allow me to address the point to a few of these observations as well as a few alternatives others have been suggesting. First and foremost, all the features and their light design, the man-power needed for design and implementation, and especially the custom screens which tie together a seamless VR experience. These are expensive resources which have been put together to create a product which exceeds any before it. The screens, in particular, are expensive - Oculus knew this. They chose to implement them, however, because this ISN'T the first time we had VR, and unless it is perfect, it will end up as another fad that goes away until someone else digs it back up. Another problem with the price, and as I've stated before, any new TV or gaming console has cost us well over $600 on its initial release. Most of us choose to either man it up and pay the costs, or wait until it's at consumer prices. As for those complaining about oculus ready PCs, well lets think about it this way. Would you have seen yourself getting a graphics card that powerful? Because if you haven't spent that much on PC gaming yet, you're probably not ready for the Rift anyways. This is a forefront of the gaming industry, and as any die-hard PC gamer knows, it costs to be at the forefront. Technology is expensive; trust me, I know all too well.

Now as my last point, people have suggested alternatives in this group. Now I'm all for entry-level VR to help bring awareness up, but don't boycott the best because you cannot afford it yet. You suggest products many of you haven't even tried, so how can you vouch for em? Especially since none of us have tried the consumer version. If it weren't for knowing as much about technology and what those specs mean in realistic terms, I wouldn't be writing this right now. The closest two contenders are the Vive and Playstation's VR headset, but we already had a leak from Amazon that PSVR will be around $800 USD. As for the Vive, I don't know the specifics and they might not even be at their end result, but for now we don't know. I do know, though, that there was a Reddit user who tried both prototypes (the consumer rift and the latest Vive prototype) and he found the Rift to be superior in most every way. So you can suggest alternative forms of VR, and please do - we need more excitement in the VR industry, but don't bash the Oculus Rift just because you cannot buy new technology...CUSTOM technology, on day one. Wait it out, try your alternatives, and one day you'll be able to afford a Rift no problem. Just remember that everything you say and do can hurt or help the industry that you were so eager to see grow. Consider the reactions to every action you make.

Again, you are welcome to draw your conclusions from this point on. If this was helpful, please let me know, and if not, I apologize for wasting any of your time. Just keep in mind that we want to put nothing but positivity into the VR industry; let's bring this industry to new heights and make sure it is here to stay. :)

Tl;dr: Custom screens are expensive. New TV/gaming products always start off far more than the rift's cost. If you suggest alternatives, don't bash the Rift or boycott it because it'll just hurt the VR industry. The reason previous VR items failed was because anything less than perfection just causes headaches and aren't accepted by the masses. So make sure all input in the VR community is positive and constructive; you are part of the shaping of a great new industry.