WillAdams parent
The 128K Mac was not too far off from being a promising toy (it wasn't until the Apple LaserWriter became available that the true promise/utility was made real) --- you have to build the expensive first version for early adopters so that you can later figure out how to make the affordable version folks will actually buy and use.
Content is indeed key.
But you don't have to start expensive: cheaper headsets already existed for several years before it came out, and those are perfectly adequate games consoles; and of the reviews I've seen for home cinema and virtual monitor uses, nobody seems to prefer AVP over other headsets half the price.