Oculus Rift Release Date: Pre-Orders Open For March 28 Shipping; When Will it Come to Retail?
One of the most anticipated hardware releases this year are the virtual reality headsets which promise to bring in a whole new world of experiences in gaming. Among the three names in VR these days is the Oculus Rift, which is currently accepting pre-orders for the VR headset with a target shipping date of March 28, 2016. Since the Oculus Rift is a product that has generated a high amount of consumer interest, consumers are already asking when it will be made available through retail stores.
According to the Oculus Rift blog site, the device's pre-ordering system will be bringing it to 20 countries or regions, most of which are in North America and Europe but also includes Japan and Taiwan. Shipping will begin on March 28. When it comes to the release date of the device to retailers outside of Oculus.com, the official announcement only says it will be available in "limited locations at select retailers starting in April."
One such retailer in the UK, GAME, has revealed through a "register your interest" announcement that it is encouraging consumers to sign up so that they get the notifications when the headset's retail release will happen, as reported in Alphr.
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According to the Alphr report, however, the accompanying great demand for the headset may also result in a low supply of the device that may lead to pushing back shipping dates to as late as June 2016, if and when there is very high demand through the pre-order system.
The Oculus Rift is currently available for pre-order at a hefty $599 price, which does not include tax and shipping. Early adopters of VR also need to consider that their machines should also be VR-ready or should be able to handle the demands of the new technology. In the Alphr report, PC companies are joining the VR bandwagon by offering special gaming bundles that include a gaming PC and an Oculus Rift. Companies ASUS and Dell are among the first to offer such bundles, according to the report.
