HTC Vive Is Selling So Poorly The Company Might Just Sell VR Business

When the current virtual reality wave first started, companies like HTC and Oculus had such high hopes for the market. Unfortunately, the fervor has since cooled down and units are not selling as well as initially hoped. Now, HTC is reportedly considering selling its Vive VR business if sales don’t pick up. In the worst case scenario, the whole company could be sold.

Right now, the most advanced VR product in the market is the HTC Vive, rendering high-quality images with excellent fidelity with the right PC rig. Unfortunately, it’s also incredibly expensive. Even with the recent price cut, it still costs $599, which makes it unappealing to most buyers.

HTC is largely a smartphone company, creating handsets for other companies or for itself. Since the rise of Samsung, however, the Android market has shrunk considerably. HTC tried to find a space in the VR market, but this appears to be backfiring. As a result, the company has brought in a consultant to look at its options, Bloomberg reports.

According to people familiar with the matter, HTC is now thinking of either selling its VR business to another company or turning it into another product that could hopefully start bringing in some money. It would appear that some preliminary talks with other companies have already gone underway, with representatives from HTC speaking to counterparts from Google.

The other option that HTC is considering is to sell the whole company altogether, which would be a radical move for the Taiwanese firm. Then again, perhaps this is the only way for the company to avoid insolvency.

As The Verge notes, some of the tech giant’s products have actually been quite well-received. A good example is the U11 flagship phone, which has received rave reviews. Unfortunately, the unit has been buried by the sheer dominance of other companies, including Samsung, LG, and Google itself.