https://www.techradar.com/news/htc-vive-price-vs-oculus-rift-price-vs-playstation-vr-price

Virtual reality had up until recently been a very expensive endeavor. When the HTC Vive, Oculus Rift and PlayStation VR all launched in 2016, many worried that prohibitive pricing would keep the nascent VR category from growing. 

Growth no doubt suffered due to initial high prices, but in the years since launch, costs for the three headset heavyweights have gone down drastically.