Even an infusion of billions of dollars from Facebook didn’t speed up development. On Tuesday, Oculus announced anyone who backed the first Developer Kit on Kickstarter will get a free special edition of the first consumer headset.
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Well, that changes now.
Palmer Luckey, the founder of Oculus, said on Twitter that the company’s website was experiencing an “insanely high load” due to a high volume of visitors looking to pre-order the headset. By comparison, the Samsung Gear VR mobile headset (also powered by Oculus’s platform) costs $99, but must be paired with a compatible (and pricey) Samsung smartphone.
As such, the new blog post has also confirmed that the Oculus Rift headset will be coming without the Oculus Touch.
Although the price might sound a bit steep, first batch has apparently sold out in a matter of minutes, pushing the initial ship date from March 28th to April.
The shopping cart on Oculus VR’s storefront indicates a $599 price tag and a expected ship date of March 2016.
For people who are pre-ordering the Oculus Rift, the fact that the game is being prepared for release should catch their interest. Oculus plans a certification program so consumers can look for a sticker on PCs that support the Rift.
The Oculus Rift comes with the headset itself, a tracking camera, Xbox One controller, Oculus Remote, and two bundled games: Eve Valkyrie & Lucky’s Tale.
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If you’re one of the backers that helped to fund the original Oculus Rift on Kickstarter back in 2012, you don’t have to worry about buying a headset.
