When Oculus VR announced this week that its Oculus Rift headset would launch in early 2016, the company didn't say what it would cost. That's still the case, but now Oculus VR vice president Nate Mitchell has spoken out to describe Oculus Rift as "high-end," noting that it will be priced at more than $200.

The GearVR headset, which Oculus made alongside Samsung, starts at $200 (though it also requires a smartphone). Mitchell confirmed during an interview at Techcrunch Disrupt this week in New York City that Oculus Rift for PC will cost more than this, but laughed at the possibility of it being priced at $1000.

Not only will the Oculus Rift headset will be "more expensive," but the total investment required will be on the high end due to the technology requiring a capable PC gaming rig, Mitchell explained.

"It is going to be a little bit more expensive; mostly around the fact that for that higher-fidelity, higher immersion VR experience you're going to want a gaming rig that you can plug into," he said.

The exact PC specifications required to run Oculus Rift will be announced in the coming weeks.

Also in the interview, Mitchell predicted that Oculus Rift component costs will come down over time, which will in turn allow the company to offer the device at a lower cost to consumers.

"VR is so new. Just like the dawn of any new platform or technology," he said. "Right now because there is custom hardware involved, costs are relatively high and scale is relatively low. But I think as we see more and more companies entering this space, what you're going to see is cost go down as scale raises and quality go up across the board."

Overall, Mitchell stressed that Oculus Rift needs to be "affordable" in the long run if it is ever to reach millions--or possibly billions--of people.

"One really important thing for us has always been to make it affordable," he said. "We want to reach a state where we have hundreds of millions if not billions of people in VR. And so nailing that affordability is really at the heart of the product that we're trying to build. We do see VR ultimately as a mass-market product and we want to get there."

The latest version of the Oculus Rift headset for developers costs $350.

How much would you pay for an Oculus Rift headset? Let us know in the comments below.