It seems one of two things is happening at the moment: either Oculus Rift has been selling like hotcakes and going out of stock simultaneously all over the Internet, or the company is tuning down production for some unknown reason. Considering there’s been no big price drops lately to bring on unseasonable demand, it could be that Facebook is flushing out stock to make way for what’s next.

As first reported by Variety, Rift is out of stock all over the Internet including US online retailers New Egg, Best Buy, Microsoft Store, Micro Center, as well as several European retail partners including Media Markt, Curry’s, and Game.

At the moment it seems few online retailers are still selling Oculus Rift + Touch bundle at the MSRP of $350, Amazon US and Oculus.com being the exceptions.

Facebook declined Variety’s bid for comment on the lack of stock across the web, saying that “Rift is still available for sale at Oculus.com and other channels, including Amazon. We don’t comment on future products, but are excited about the year ahead.”

Oculus Quest, Image courtesy Oculus

According to a report in November, a next generation Rift (codenamed ‘Caspar’) was supposed to be a complete redesign of the headset, but was shelved in favor of a product refresh that’s said to include modest upgrades such as higher resolution displays and inside-out positional tracking. Oculus co-founder Brendan Iribe reportedly left Facebook over this still unconfirmed decision; both the company and Iribe have remained tight-lipped around the issue.

The name for the device is reportedly ‘Rift S’, and is said to release sometime this year. We still have no idea exactly what the headset will entail, but so far it looks like its heavily benefiting from the inside-out tracking research done for the company’s upcoming standalone VR headset Oculus Quest.

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UploadVR’s David Heaney recently discovered code in the Oculus PC software directly mentioning ‘Rift S’ by name and providing settings for both on-board cameras and in-software interpupiliary distance (IPD) correction.

Since Quest and ‘Rift S’ are created to appeal to different market segments (casual users vs. PC gaming enthusiasts), it makes sense that Facebook is tuning down production of the original Rift to make way for its eventual replacement.

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Scott Hayden
Well before the first modern XR products hit the market, Scott recognized the potential of the technology and set out to understand and document its growth. He has been professionally reporting on the space for nearly a decade as Editor at Road to VR, authoring more than 4,000 articles on the topic. Scott brings that seasoned insight to his reporting from major industry events across the globe.
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  • Ok. Rift S is cool and all, but I am not onboard regarding inside out tracking.
    I think outside in trackking will always be superior in terms of precision: I would not be mad if they after make a oculus “pro” version with that kind of tech, but I guess they will stick with this tech. Too bad…
    It’s not the tech is bad: it’s just that it’s not perfect for what I want in a VR headset. And I was valutating into getting the rift after figuring out how could I do a 3 camera setup and saving up for it.
    But I guess it’s itme to search for a non inside out tracking HMD…

    • Bob

      Going for Valve’s lighthouse solution is the best you’re going to get for an outside-in tracking solution. Even if you’re not on-board with inside-out tracking it’s pretty much the future for consumer devices where it’s obviously the more convenient option for the end-user.

      Convenience sells products, not always, but almost all the time. Eventually you will see inside-out tracking edge out and be the de-facto standard and outside-in will either cease to exist as an option or it will be reserved specifically for enterprise/commerical HMD’s that require extreme precision. And that’s happening as of now.

      • I guess you’re right, i’m not denying that… I just hate the argument of convience.
        I feel ignored when stuff like this happens. Why companies can’t just gather to everyone? Doing your thing for the masses is ok, but also do stuff that people like “”extreme”” ethusiasts can enjoy. That way everyone is happy and no one gets the shaft.

        But I will give a try with this statement: if they figure out to do 1:1 tracking (that also includes hands behind your head) tracking with this system, I will consider it. Until that happens, lighthouse for me.

        And I also add (this is more of a personal taste), I do not like the design of simplicity of these new headset: I love the futuristic/newborn tech look that the OG had. That’s the thing i’m gonna miss the most.

        • MosBen

          My theory is that they’re moving towards eliminating the Oculus Go! from the product line. In a year or so the Quest will probably get a price drop, which will take it into a more casual price range, and will be targeted at people who don’t have a gaming PC. The Rift S will be the middle tier, requiring a PC with a fairly robust graphics card, but at a fairly consumer-friendly price, and then in 2020 or 2021 they’ll release the Rift 2 (or whatever they call it), which will be a more enthusiast targeted device. I suspect that the Rift 2 will still use inside out tracking, as it just makes so much more sense than outside in in every way other than maximizing tracking fidelity, but the Rift 2 probably will have a significantly increased FOV, higher resolution screens, etc.

          • I hope you are right: it would make the most sense honestly.
            They can’t just create something like the halfdome project and dump it.

            I really hope you are right… we will see.

          • jj

            idk the go still sits in its own very affordable vr media device while the s and quest are more interactive driven so i wouldnt be surprised if they keep the go or future editions of it around

          • MosBen

            Well, the Go is $200, right? And the Quest is launching for $400. Surely, some of the Quest’s cost is in R&D and getting their manufacturing facilities up and running. Part of the speculation about the Rift S is that they want to integrate the production of at least of the Quest and Rift parts, which would save money, so some of that cost would be defrayed if they announce and release the Rift S. And, of course, the hardware costs will drop over time, and they’re already using a not-top of the line parts. So I don’t think that it’s crazy to imagine that within a year or two the Quest will get price drops below $300, which will put it at least close to where the Go is.

            Ultimately, I just don’t see any future for a 3DOF product, especially a few years from now, and the Go with 6DOF is basically the Quest, right?

          • MeowMix

            I don;t believe they’ll get rid of the GO.
            It’s cheap and it’s sold amazingly well (from what Oculus and Carmack have stated).

          • MosBen

            Sure, and I get the desire to have an entry-level SKU at a price low enough to qualify as something people will purchase on a whim or splurge to try out VR. And I wouldn’t be super surprised if the Go branding remained. I just don’t see a future for 3DOF HMDs in a 6DOF world. At some point the marginal cost to add 6DOF will be so low that I can’t imaging why they wouldn’t just add it to the Go. But at that point the Go would more or less be the Quest. Maybe we’ll see two tiers in each category, the Go as a lower powered, lower spec’ed all-in-one system and the Quest as a more powerful step up, while the Rift S will be the lower spec’ed tethered system and something else will be the enthusiast tethered HMD. It’s not that I think that Oculus will abandon what the Go represents, just that the specific 3DOF tech that it uses is clearly inferior and will probably be phased out.

        • NooYawker

          I think you’re going to see a division of VR use. Casual games and movie use and hardcore gaming. The best will probably always be outside in, just like the most powerful computer will be a big desktop. But plenty of people can get what they need out of a laptop or even a tablet.

      • bobzdar

        According to testing I saw, Oculus has slightly faster and more accurate tracking than HTC, but a smaller area. I have an Oculus and an Odyssey+ and honestly, the slight improvement in tracking is not noticeable in practice and not worth the extra effort to set up. I was initially very worried I’d miss the Oculus touch controllers and while I think they’re superior from an ergonomic standpoint, from a tracking standpoint it’s not a concern even with the more limited tracking range of the WMR headset. I’ve used my Rift exactly twice since getting the Odyssey+ four months ago, and that was so I could play with a buddy on two PC’s.

        The headset is more important than the very limited improvement in tracking, especially as the 4 camera inside out setup Oculus uses has almost total coverage of the range of motion. I’m not even a little worried.

        • For now I tested the 3 giants while going to various conventions.
          I am sure that not everyone is like me (like I made it clear on other replies), but I did notice the difference.

          WMR had the worst tracking of all the three, like it was shaking at some points. And it was not the lighting messing with the cameras, they were in a normal use environment, and others after me didn’t notice it.

          Oculus was the middle one in terms of tracking, really good and enjoyed the touch controllers.

          Vive was close to the oculus, but had the advantage of a bigger tracking area.

          I evalutated oculus out of more of a “I need VR now”, and was faster to save up for.
          But I guess that’s a no anymore…

          • MosBen

            Is there a specific reason why you need super fine precision tracking, or is it just a general desire for maximized quality of experience? As I said above in response to another comment, there’s good reason to think that this will allow the Rift to see further price drops, which makes it a much easier sell to people that don’t have tons of spare cash for a VR hobby. It also reduces the number of USB ports that you need on your PC, which would be great. I just had to add a PCIe USB controller because my Rift was overloading my motherboard’s USB controller. Eliminating 3 USB plugs and a bunch of wires would sure be nice.

          • It’s because of me somehow noticing those differences: I am 100% aware not everyone can notice it (hell, I might be the 10% or something), but in those occasions, I noticed it like a marked bold word.
            Also, my PC has alot of USB entries, but I guess reducing it for bandwith is good. But that can also be acomplished with a more streamlined data organisation maybe…

          • bobzdar

            Whichi wmr headset? The odyssey + moved the bt receiver to the headset itself to fix a lot of those jitter issues and I’ve noticed none on mine, tracking is rock solid.

          • The acer one.

          • Cybis Z

            Not all WMR are the same in terms of tracking. The cheaper (i.e., non O+) headsets connect via bluetooth to your computer – an unreliable connection that’s the cause of most of the tracking issues on WMR. The O+ includes a bluetooth dongle in the HMD itself, eliminating tracking issues entirely, as long as the controllers are within the field-of-view of the cameras. The gyroscopes and accelerometers inside the controllers do a pretty decent job, actually, of tracking them for a short while when out of view of the cameras too.

            It’s just as good – if not better – than outside-in tracking when the controllers are in front of you. Considering that Rift-S / Quest will have 4 cameras instead of WMR’s 2, it should track a lot better than WMR.

            Finally – isn’t “insight” just constellation but with the cameras in the HMD itself? I can’t imagine why – other than no support in software – the constellation sensors couldn’t also be used to track the Rift-S controllers.

          • MeowMix

            Ya, “Insight” is both “Camera based Computer Vision” and “Constellation” built in (since Touch still uses IR based trackers).

            Thus, constellation ain’t dead. It was merged into Insight. What’s dead are the Outside-In Constellation sensors.

      • Andrew Jakobs

        WHy wouldn’t insideout tracking not be able to be extreme precise? I think inside out with the right tech could be even much more precise.

        • daveinpublic

          Especially as camera resolution goes up and processing speeds increase.

    • GigaSora

      Oculus wouldn’t put something out if they didn’t think it was ready and good enough. Don’t worry :D

      • I still don’t trust them: like I don’t trust all companies valutation of this kind of thing honestly.
        The prediction of hands behind your head is kinda cool, but definetly not precise enough: don’t get why they just didn’t put another 2 cameras on the behind.

        • Dave

          I paid full price for the Rift and then the Touch controllers and I don’t regret it at all. Will probably buy this immediately it’s released but I’ve not had an once of interest in buying a Samsung O+ or Pimax 5K+. I don’t consider the HTC Vive Pro good enough and it would be expensive for me as I don’t have the original Vive…

        • TwinFire

          See, thats my thought too, inst inside out tracking ‘perfect’ if they just stick two cameras on the back? How much does a couple of cmos sensors and 30cm of copper cable really cost? ;) (I guess dimly lit rooms will still be an issue though?)

    • Also, thx for being civil about your opinion replying: when I go to other places discussing this kind of stuff, I only get an echo of fanboys. At least in here I can discuss it in a civil matter

      • NooYawker

        I think you’re responding to yourself.

        • Was talking in general to all replies. Didn’t know a better way. Sorry.

          • MosBen

            It’s still the internet, so we have our share of insane fanboys, but there’s a good group of pretty knowledgeable people that frequent these boards (note: I don’t consider myself especially technically knowledgeable, just a fan).

    • MosBen

      Granted, I haven’t tried the Quest, so I can’t speak to its tracking solution, but have a strong suspicion that the inside-out tracking will be technically inferior to outside-in, but good enough for the vast majority of use cases and extremely cheaper for Oculus to produce, which may lead to some further price drops.

      • And that’s all good. I’m more talking that people like me get shafted: we are willing to pay for a superior tech, but no manufacturer will try and do that and will all do a “race to the bottom” (like the original Oculus founder said). That’s what I’m talking more about

        • ender707

          Do you own a rift or vive?

        • MosBen

          Fair enough. I would suggest that releasing products for a more general audience isn’t really shafting hardcore fans. The group of people with cutting edge PCs that can run amazing VR is large enough that there will probably always be some company marketing products to them. I think that the Rift 2 (or whatever they call it) will cater to that audience, but even if it doesn’t there will still be the Pimaxes or Vive Pros of the world.

    • jj

      yupp your right outside in will most likely always be better, but there are so many other downsides to it that it gets outweighed for most. For a LOT of companies trying to show off how tech savy they are and incorporating vr into their events, conferences or booths, the outside in tracking and set up has been hell, while this removes all of that hell.

      • And I see that: I see what advantages this could bring.
        But then every company exclusivley focus on that and forgets people like me and other more “extreme” enthusiasts.

        • jj

          thats what the pcvr rigs are for, this is capturing the unclaimed middle ground where the majority of buyers are right now.

      • daveinpublic

        Cool.

        (Also edited for grammar)

    • Tiago Russolo

      My problem with the S is the lack of hardware adjustment for IPD. Too bad that I am not “standard” sized. I guess it runs in the family, because no one in mine is standard, being either too large or too small…

      • Andrew Jakobs

        How do you know it’s not hardware? Nothing is really known about it, other than it being set through software, who knows if it’s just hardware but controlled through software so you don’t have to fiddle by hand anymore and it’ll automatically adjust to the person wearing (propably not ofcourse, but who knows).

      • MeowMix

        We don’t know about the IPDs yet.
        As far as we know, the “Software IPD” could be “IPD profiles” while still allowing manual changing of the IPD, which would be a welcomed and great idea !

        • Tiago Russolo

          Well, seems that I misinterpreted the article on the UploadVR website.
          But anyway, let’s hope that the HW IPD adjustment is present!

    • Andrew Jakobs

      Inside out tracking can always be just as good (or even better) as outside in, it all depends on the technology used.

  • mellott124

    Lets hope for an announcement at GDC.

    • MosBen

      Seems more likely that it’ll be part of the Facebook F8 conference at the end of April. My guess is that the Quest releases during F8, while the Rift S comes out later in the Summer.

    • daveinpublic

      I’m guessing Rift S announced at GDC, with small resolution bump. Available within a few weeks.

      Quest announced at F8, available for preorder that week.

  • Proof XR Lab

    i’ve spoken to customer services at Argos, Game, Scan, John Lewis, Curry’s PC World and Overclockers this week – all listed as retail partners in the UK on Oculus’ website.

    None had “stock-in” dates except Scan who said a small drop arriving on 29th March but to fufill backorders so no “free stock”. Curry’s PC World set me up a stock alert email but had nothing else to say.

    Amazon co uk were sold out but now listing at £599 way above the current RRP of £349 and Oculus com seem to be only people with any stock.

    guess we’ll find out soon what is going on?

    • Proof XR Lab

      And here is an image (screenshot) of what pops up (tracked advertising) at the base of this article Rift selling at £599!! https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/6e6f293d8ffa53feae2f44ebe3f6168866c75a2ef3e182cddf842502b8b5d3ea.png

    • CarlosTSG

      Very.co.uk has them at their very expensive price @ £399.99

      • Proof XR Lab

        good find and a decent price. not sure where they sourced their stock as they are not an official reseller but sales of goods act means the retailer has to provide a 2 year warranty period so you are covered in that respect.

  • MW

    Dreams and suspicions… And all for ‘modest upgrades such as higher resolution displays and inside-out positional tracking’.
    And all of this, at best, in next year. Not excited.

    • jj

      This kind of news is more proof that it wont be an entire year until release. thats why its interesting and news.

    • Dave

      I’m excited – I’m very comfortable with the Oculus and now we are finally getting what our competiters have had for a while but in the Rift package. That will do for me! The only thing for me which could be negative would be the FoV which I’m expecting to be the same, because if they’ve pulled the Rift it really is a like for like with the upgrades you’ve mentioned.

    • daveinpublic

      It’s not meant to get you excited, it’s meant to cut costs, and probably won’t be marketed. The Quest will be hyped and marketed, as it’s the headset they’re betting on and seems to fit their company’s overall vision. If you read their internal emails, it seems like the original team was all about PC, and Zuck is more about standalone and mobile. After using Oculus Go, I can see why.

  • JesuSaveSouls

    Now it’s time to advertise our currently owned cv1s online for huge returns.Jesus God’s Son also died for you too,He is alive!

  • bud01

    Imagine the headset in the year 2030…
    Any guesses in the capability out that far based off a progressively more and better funded eco system between now and then.

    • Charles

      Maybe by then the displays will finally be 4K per eye RGB.

    • MosBen

      I’m not an engineer, but I feel like by 2030 we’ll see a different paradigm in accessing VR. Maybe it’ll be images that are beamed directly onto your eyes, or AR screens that can darken themselves to allow for VR experiences, or something; just something other than slightly higher resolution phone screens strapped to our heads in bulky enclosures. Or maybe not. I mean, Moore’s Law isn’t quite what it once was, but our computers are still getting faster over time, so it seems likely that we’ll eventually have hardware that can push 8k per eye. Maybe in 10 years we’ll have retina displays in an all-in-one HMD with 210 degree FOV, and that will be just about as good as we can get.

      • daveinpublic

        We just need you to get out there and make it!

        • MosBen

          Oh, that’s well beyond my skills. I’m more of a writer than a hardware designer or software coder.

      • Lucas

        I think by 2030 direct to brain interfaces will be a thing. Dreams are a built in VR functionality nature gave us. Tapping into that process will be the big paradigm shift you speak of. Screens can only do so much and will feel like ancient technology in 11 years time.

        • Twa Corbies

          “I think by 2030 direct to brain interfaces will be a thing”
          I was once a dreamer too :-( Not gonna happen

      • Ben Van Deventer

        “Maybe it’ll be images that are beamed directly onto your eyes”

        Yes, that’s how vision works.

        • MosBen

          My very brief Google search didn’t turn up a link, but I’m almost certain that I remember reading an interview with Gabe Newell a few years ago where he talked about something very similar. Of course, the specific mechanism really wasn’t my point.

        • Rick
        • James Luo

          Yes, it is how vision works lol. Your eyes can only see because light is shined into it.

      • NextWorld VR

        That is ALREADY how AR LCD Screens work! They can let through 100% light, or block it entirely, on a pixel by pixel basis, and everything in between! It can make the FLOOR of your room SEEM TO DROP OUT Leaving a VOID!! (With Light shining up from below filling your room with ‘beams’ etc,. Anything. EVERYTHING! :)

    • Pre Seznik

      It’ll be largely the same as it is now. A lot of you here don’t understand how iterative hardware sales work. You don’t just skip ahead when there’s money to be made with hardware refreshes. For an example, look at how videogames consoles were 10-13 years ago. Basically the exact same thing, but slightly less powerful.

  • That’sright

    100° – 110° Fov doesn’t impress me anymore. If they don’t increase the Fov then it isn’t next gen.

    • MosBen

      It’s a hardware refresh, I don’t think that they’re positioning this as a next generation device, any more than the Xbox One S as a new generation of consoles.

      • Unimpressed

        At this point this is not even a hardware refresh, Oculus is massively behind other competitors like HTC and WMR partners. Some WMR partners are reportedly working on the hardware refresh of WMR HMDs with 2160×2160 resolutions…per eye.

        • Adderstone VR

          And you have zero details about screen resolution of this rumoured Rift S….

          • mirak

            Oculus will not increase specs in a way that requires way more power.

          • Adderstone VR

            Lets deal in facts please….fact is, the specs have not been announced.
            Can we hold off on the crying until they are?

          • MosBen

            I would expect that this is the case, but I’m not convinced that this is a bad thing.

        • daveinpublic

          ‘Massively behind’… who else has a system as polished and market ready as the Oculus Quest? The other guys are playing checkers, Oculus is playing chess.

        • MosBen

          I mean…so? The fact that other companies are maybe going to be putting out hardware that is more targetted to an enthusiast crowd doesn’t negate that it’s a hardware refresh. As I said, the Xbox One S is a hardware refresh that didn’t change the underlying specs in a significant way. If the rumors are to be believed, the Rift S, like most hardware refreshes, is primarily about making the hardware cheaper for the manufacturer to produce, with some side benefits of added or refined features for the consumer. People generally seem to think that the Rift S will use the lenses and screens from the Quest, while shedding some weight from the headset along the way. That alone would be a pretty nice improvement for consumers. Adding in inside out tracking that eliminates the need to set up 2-3 sensors and have USB ports to power them is pretty nice as well.

          No, it’s not the Rift 2, but that’s ok. I don’t doubt that they’re making a Rift 2, and if some WMR partner releases a truly next generation HMD in the next year or so then that will just mean that the Rift 2 will have a target to beat whenever it releases.

    • MeowMix

      Of course it’s not next gen, there’s no next gen/2nd gen headsets out.
      This is a refresh of a current gen headset. Much like “Xbox One S” was to “Xbox One”.

  • Jorgie

    This seemed true a week or so ago, but most places have stock again. Oculus has a habit of announcing products, so I seriously doubt they are going to spring a upgrade to the Rift any time soon. They actually have a pretty small production team considering Facebook’s deep pockets, and those folks are buried in the work needed to get the Quest out the door.

  • impurekind

    It will be cool if the S launches in the near future, or at least is released.

  • Dark Evry

    Well cant wait, I skipped PC VR due to horrible displays and outdated resolution, maybe RIFT S is what doctor ordered.

    • Arcticu Kitsu

      Had fun with my Oculus Rift since December 2017 having lots of memorable fun memories from VRchat and other games. There’s lots to experienced. Resolution is actually awesome. I was able to play nicely having fun memories.

      • Dark Evry

        I cant enjoy VR if screen bothers me, i need high resolution or at least PSVR with its native OLED.
        I have PSVR and PS4Pro [also a pc of course], PSVR games screen-wise look superior to rift and vive with its pentile amoled, light rays and insane screen door effect, PSVR has BIGGER per-pixel resolution then vive and rift even thou it has lower actual resolution.

        • mirak

          Still that is in the same magnitude order.

          • Dark Evry

            The Pentile amoled uses just 8 subpixels per pixel while regualr RGB [like PSVR OLED] has 12 subpixels per pixel, so all the missing subpixels are basically tiny “holes” in the display, thats why the screen door effect on rift/vive is so horrendous.

          • Rosko

            Problem with the psvr is you can’t turn up the pixel density like you can with a pc, SDE effect for me is less of an issue than sharpness & aliasing. It’s interesting that people have a different order of concerns, mine would be..
            1.PPD(resolution)
            2.colour banding(colour depth)
            3.black smear
            4.god rays
            5.sde
            6.fov

          • Phil Jones

            Rosko, agreed. I dont even notice SDE, is it there? sometimes but it depends on the game for me. I get into it and I notice NONE of the things people whine about.

    • mirak

      When was the last time you were with such a resolution with a screen directly mounted on your face ?

      Ho wait, it never happened before !
      So no, the resolution is not outdated and very current.

      • Dark Evry

        Its mega outdated, to the point of being unusable!
        Especially when its in your face when you can see every pixel.
        You just used to low resolutions, im used to 4K.

        • TwinFire

          I agree with you. Its objectively out of date, as well as never fit for VR purpose. Everything initially released has been a first look… tru VR does not have screen door or massive forum discussions about how we need higher resolution

          • Dark Evry

            Lets see what RIFT S brings and that Chinese 4K VR if its fixed and works without bugs, no lag or delay in tracking and they manage to offer mainstream price of no more then 400-450, it can be a good HMD.
            BUT I Hope that RIFT S uses the new USB-C VR connector, it will make VR much much easier.

        • mirak

          No you are not used to it, because you never had more than 2k strapped on your face.
          You are used to a fucking monitor, this has nothing to do with vr, period.

    • Phil Jones

      The screen only bothers you because you are not used to it, its 1080p its not “bad quality” its just close to your eyes. After you play a couple days you do not notice it anymore. If you are one of those fools who thinks we need 4k per eye your retarded running 4k on a monitor alone is a huge task and dont say otherwise because you need 60fps on a flat monitor and you NEED 90+ on VR. If you dont run 90FPS in VR you will get headaches, eye strain and get motion sickness much easier. TLDR current rift is fine, but a bump would obviously be nice. No way people are going to be running 4k per eye anytime soon smoothly, not even my dual 2080 Ti’s are going to do that smoothly.

      • Dark Evry

        You clearly are not very Technical.
        We need 4K or preferably 8K per eye!
        It doesn’t mean that we need to use that resolution.
        8K per eye will have so small pixels that even in VR even if you put a lens you wont see them thats the whole point, use high pixel density screen so you wont see any pixels and have sharp image, AND because in VR you center you gaze, you need more pixels in-front of your eye not in the peripheral area, so when you use even 1440p screen in reality your action happens in the center and you use only 4th part or even 6th part of the screen so it looks MUCH worse then real 1440p image on monitor.

        We have the tech to use 4K per OLED 120Hz and this device will be future ready, you can use 1080p if you have old card, I have 2080Ti and can use 1800p per eye [4K per 120Hz is too much even for 2080ti]

  • Trenix

    Switching outside-in tracking to inside-out seems like a downgrade more than an upgrade. Maybe if the price is cheaper than the Oculus Rift, I’ll buy. Yet I don’t see it as a replacement.

    • TwinFire

      I think, if true, its oculus telling us, hey, inside out tracking is now at parity with other more complex setups. I for one really dont mind if my hand gets lost temporarily when scratching my lower back!

      • Ronny Neumann

        but that could be a problem while playing games like lone echo/echo combat/echo Arena… its part of the game that you hold on to surfaces behind you…

      • Pre Seznik

        I can already think of several games where this would be a problem. You could argue that new games going foward would be designed around this – but this would make them inherently limited to what was possible now.

        It’s a downgrade, no question.

  • So… kinda sounds like they took the Quest, removed the smartphone motherboard, and slapped on a Type-C USB connector for the PC. (It’s power, data, and video in one port, and nVidia is already marketing it as their “VR” port)

    The confusing part then would be why they just didn’t design the Quest to allow tethering and drop all of the other products? It’s easier to market one solid product then 3 niche ones.

    • Adderstone VR

      It’s not Nvidia marketing a USB C port as a VR port – It’s called VirtualLink and while it looks like a USB C port it runs an alternate mode, thus not any USB C Port will work as VirtualLink Port – it was developed by a consortium of companies including Oculus, Vive, AMD and Nvidia.

    • TwinFire

      its all good news really. This will be lighter for enthiusiasts wanting longer play sessions. Cant wait to put the virtual link into action!

    • Rudl Za Vedno

      “why they just didn’t design the Quest to allow tethering and drop all of the other products?”

      Because FB wants you locked into Oculus ecosystem. PC VR gamers have Valve and Epic alternative which means less potential profit for Zuckerberg&CO.

      • AJ_74

        But that begs the question; Why make a tethered headset at all then?

        Besides, Oculus could easily lock SteamVR out of the equation if they felt it threatened the bottom line.

        No, he’s right, the Rift S and Quest should be one product. Most of each headset’s major shortcomings would be solved by making them a hybrid wireless/tethered system.

        If Oculus could have delivered such a product, game over for the competition.

    • Ben Bega

      Its because Quest would require an additional chip in order to take a video input. This would then drive the cost up, which is the exact opposite of what they want.

    • MeowMix

      If the Rift-S is what you predict, then it’ll probably come in at a $200-$300 price point.

      Price would be the reason why. Even at $400 (now $350), the Rift isn’t selling much considering your need a $700+ PC

    • G-man

      because not all mobile soc’s are designed to be able to take data input of that bandwidth. can you just plug your dvd player into your pcs second hdmi and play the dvd on the monitor. no you need a video capture card plugged into a pcie slot.

  • Yesssss Rift S!

  • Proof XR Lab

    i’ve just visited Curry’s PC World flagship store in West London and noticed a Rift and Go on display in a clear case in their gaming section, which wasn’t there when i visited 2 weeks back.

    I asked a member of staff if they had any Rift stock i could purchase, but he told me they’ve had no stock for weeks, this model is now listed “end of line” on their stock system and are waiting for news of the next “version”.

    I asked why there was a Rift in the case if they have no stock, he said it was placed there to maintain interest in Oculus until they have a new model to display. The member of staff was knowledgeable about VR even asking if i had heard about the new Valve headset.

    • excellent info, thank you. Seems to support the possibility of a Rift S very soon!

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  • Scott Spears

    BCI research is advancing everyday. Total integration in 30 years or less. I wonder what new world it will render for us and what we will choose to do with it.

  • James Luo

    Oculus Rift S announcement at GDC?

  • care package

    Didn’t we just have an event recently where they would have talked about ‘rift s’ if it was anywhere near?

  • This is amazing. Really excited about the new release of standalone VR headset Oculus rift S.
    Virtual Reality Social