Virtual reality can be an incredible tool for educational purposes, but it’s hard to imagine schools would be willing to spend $799 on a single HTC Vive when then need dozens of units for an entire classroom to experience VR.
To fix that, HTC has announced a new 10-headset Vive Business Edition bundle which includes 10 Vive headsets and two base stations for 49,999 yuan ($7260). While that’s not much cheaper than the $7990 you’d pay if you purchased 10 Vive units separately, it is 40% less than what HTC would charge for 10 Vive Business Edition. The downside is that you don’t get the motion controllers since HTC expects most classroom experiences will be observational only. This helps keep the cost down since school typically have limited budgets. If a school wants to user interactive VR experiences with the Vive, the controllers can be purchased separately.
At the moment, HTC has only announced the availability and pricing of the education bundle for the Chinese market. The price and included accessories could change once the 10-headset Vive Business Edition bundle makes its way to the US and Europe.
