Oculus Rift Release Date Set For Early 2016

By Lorraine Caballero, Christian Post Contributor Thursday, November 26, 2015

The Oculus Rift will be released in the first quarter of 2016, but the price of the virtual reality (VR) headset is still unconfirmed.

As of now, Oculus VR has not yet announced the exact release date of the Oculus Rift, but it is expected to release the VR headset early next year. The exact price of the device is also still unknown, but company founder Palmer Luckey indicated that it will cost more than $350, according to Expert Reviews (ER).

During the Oculus Connect conference, Luckey spoke to Road to VR and revealed an estimate of the price of Oculus Rift's consumer version. He used their $350 developer kit as a comparison point for the price of the VR headset.

"You know, I'm going to be perfectly honest with you. We're roughly in that ballpark … but it's going to cost more than that," ER quotes Luckey's statement to Road to VR. "And the reason for that is that we've added a lot of technology to this thing beyond what existed in the DK1 and DK2 days."

Luckey explained that they do not want to compromise the quality of the Oculus Rift for its price. He said they want to make sure that the very first consumer version of the VR headset will give customers the best possible experience.

The Oculus Rift is a VR headset that can be worn in front of the eyes to experience a close-to-reality game environment or even a movie. Its dual OLED display has a resolution of 2160 x 1200 pixels and 90Hz refresh rate. The device uses an external sensor to translate the user's movements into the virtual environment, the report explains.

According to analyst SuperData, a rich future awaits Oculus VR and other manufacturers of VR headsets. The industry could bring in $15.9 billion in revenue by 2019, with this year's projected sales at $660.5 million, VentureBeat reports.

When the Oculus Rift finally launches, it will be bundled with a wireless Xbox One controller. It will also be compatible with Windows 10, and users can directly stream Xbox One games to the VR headset.