The company tells us this isn't about clearing inventory, so this isn't an indication of how well the Vive is selling. It's strictly a competitive move, in other words, and it's probably not an indication of new Vive hardware on the horizon.

It's hard to imagine HTC not cutting the price of the Vive -- there was no way people were going to pay $300 more than Oculus' setup for a comparable experience. Even so, it's a significant moment for high-end VR. Neither the Vive nor the Rift is what you'd call an impulse purchase after all this (that may have to wait until $200 wireless headsets), but they might now be inexpensive enough that they're treated less as novelties and more as mainstream (if still costly) peripherals.