I see two possibilities: 1. They're using the console model. You don't make money off the hardware. You make money off the software sales. 2. They're invest

I see two possibilities: 1. They're using the console model. You don't make money off the hardware. You make money off the software sales. 2. They're investing in the VR market, and they have no intention of making any money off this iteration. By selling a compelling device at such a low price point, they effectively make the VR market more mainstream and gain control of it at the same time. These two options aren't mutually exclusive. A lot of people are touting the idea that they're selling your data to make up for it. I strongly doubt that. While they most certainly are using data collected from the device to make money, it isn't likely that they'll make enough money off of that data alone to make up the difference.