Some stores reportedly went days without seeing any interest in an Oculus Rift demonstration.
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“We’re making some seasonal changes and prioritizing demos at hundreds of Best Buy locations in larger markets”, an Oculus spokeswoman told Business Insider. Oculus’ Andrea Schubert said that the removal was due to “seasonal changes”. Slow sales, especially after the holiday season, have prompted Oculus Rift to remove demo units across North America.
Zuckerberg also points out that the research lab is working on reducing the size of the headsets to glasses we can carry anywhere.
Oculus wants you to be able to do all sorts of things in virtual reality that you can and can’t do in the real world.
The device is available to try at other retailers, however, and the rep said that Oculus remains committed to its demo program. This way, Rock Band VR is less about musicianship and more about stage presence – so perhaps it should come with skintight spandex and the entire David Lee Roth back catalogue. The company previously released handheld Touch controllers to accompany the Rift, but those clearly can’t offer the flexibility and dexterity that gloves might – especially if you’re talking about typing and web-slinging.
Oculus demos debuted in 48 Best Buy stores last May, before then rolling out more broadly across the country.
The primary goal of those demonstrations was to make people talk about Oculus and VR, instead of pressing on selling. Where they discussed how they can help more people raise money for charitable causes on Facebook. Oculus named Christa Wittenberg as its global head of retail in January, according to her LinkedIn profile. The report suggests that even VR cafes in leading commercial districts in Beijing get few customers, with a dearth of unique and engaging content the main reason for clients staying away.
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Ignoring the fact that proper VR headsets like the HTC Vive and Oculus Rift are expensive, the experience, from a visual standpoint, is quite compelling.
