At a recent Microsoft event, the software giant announced a release date for its HoloLens development kit. But many flinched at its $3,000 price tag although some said that's just normal.
As ReadWrite said, "[s]erious developers may not blink at that price, but it could crush the dreams of smaller indie shops, amateur enthusiasts and student developers who were hoping to get their hands on the new hardware before the public at large.
Then again, CEO Satya Nadella did say that HoloLens will focus on enterprises and developers first. Combined with the high admission price, Ars Technica noted that the augmented reality headset "isn't intended to be a consumer-oriented, mass-market device."
Noting, HoloLens's limited field of view, one commenter on the website's piece said it was "smart not to target the actual general public with their first release."
"[$3,000] for a company doing product development is noise," said another one adding, "They're trying to keep it for professional development and even then it's probably being subsidized by Microsoft because it's not being built in consumer quantities."
But it's not like any developer with the cash can get a HoloLens development kit. Reportedly, developers will have to apply to get one.
"That's presumably so Microsoft can control the quality of the initial holographic applications it shows to the public," CNET said.
But what do indie game devs have to say about that?
Flying Mollusk's Erin Reynolds was excited about the update from Microsoft but admitted the HoloLens development kit's price "presented a little bit of a barrier to entry."
"I imagine that many small, independent developers like us likely will have to wait a bit before we can start developing any content for it," he said as quoted by VR Focus.
Kite & Lightning's Ikrima Elhassan was shocked with the Microsoft HoloLens development kit's price.
"I'm holding out judgement until I try it, but the small [field of view] is going to be hard for me to get over, especially that price," he added.
