Dev update #15

This week we are not pushing app updates because we are trying to wrap up the 1.0 launch as fast as we can so we can go back to things we love doing the most - features and bugfixes. The launch is scheduled to happen early next week.

Pricing details

We were often asked about the final price of VRidge. People were wondering if it's going to be subscription based or maybe some kind of freemium model with unlockable qualities. Some people suggested ads but ads can support product only if it has millions of installs. Also, they would break immersion and they are often annoying. We are sure that flashing warning with "Your phone has a 32 viruses! Fix! Now!" in the middle of your immersive VR session would be terribly bad.

So we decided that the best choice would be something very simple - one-time payment. No quality tiers. No "insert coin to continue playing" every now and then.

We think that beta testers deserve a better deal because they were with us from the first days, they gave us a lot of feedback and tips to fix bugs. Some of you suggested cool features that we implemented (FreeTrack for example). So beta testers pay only 50% of the final price.

We also want to continue development in the future. We have a lot of ideas and some more bugfixing to do. We want to reduce bandwidth, reduce artifacts, fix incompatible phones, create GearVR native version and iOS app. We want to add more tracking options, better integrations with hand tracking controllers, we want to provide you the best Rift/Vive-like experience for a fraction of a price.

But this takes time and we don't think it would be fair for someone to buy it half a year from now with most (or all) of those features implemented for the same price people have to pay now. So we're starting with early access discount of 25% for all non-beta users registered after today. We will give at least one week notice (probably more) when this discount is going to expire. It's not going to happen too soon because we still have a lot of polishing to do.

Okay, enough words, you want to hear numbers. Regular price would be $19.99/19.99 EUR but this will be in effect once we declare that we are happy with all the features and no major bugs remain. This is not going to happen anytime soon so the actual amounts will be:

EUR*	USD*	% off
9.99€	$9.99	(-50%)	Beta testers, all users registered before 16/06/2016**
14.99€	$14.99	(-25%)	Early access - everyone else***

*All applicable taxes included.
**Beta discounts will expire 1 month after release.
***Early access will expire at some undefined point in the future. We will give at least 1 week notice.

Accepted payment method will be PayPal only but we will try to add something else if many of you ask us to. You will be able to buy it early next week. We won't have any downtimes (hopefully, unless something goes wrong) so you will be able to continue using VRidge without interruptions.

Free version

Free version will be time-limited. We believe everyone has to try the product before deciding if it's worth spending money on. There are a lot of 3rd party components so we want to give a way for everyone to test their hardware and system before buying. Free version will be limited to 10 minutes per session. It's enough to run some short experience fully and it should be enough to test out bigger games.

Will I have to buy it again for GearVR / iOS?

No. We are not asking you to pay again for the same thing on multiple devices. Please keep in mind that we will try our best to deliver those versions but it's not a promise because those versions can be blocked by things outside our control (Samsung/Oculus closing down GearVR SDK for example). We don't see any major obstacles now but we cannot predict the future.

What's next?

We want to keep updating VRidge further. This takes time and money and this is exactly the reason we ask a price equivalent to 1-2 cinema tickets. This will allow us to buy more phones to test, more devices, motion controllers. We want to keep up with PC VR and continue providing the best PC VR to mobile VR solution. GearVR and iOS versions will be our summer priority. We also want to get rid of bugs with some incompatible devices (Zenfone 2, few Huawei models, old Galaxy models, among others). Oh, and the heat is still an issue - we want to reduce it. 

We will also continue to listen to your suggestion. After all, we're making this software for your needs and we are really greatful for all the feedback and suggestions. Some of you went above and beyond with error reporting. All the recordings, logs, dump files, thousands of e-mails. We couldn't wish for better testers than all of you.

Thank you!

RiftCat Team