Now that the news has hit the streets about the Oculus Rift release date coming in Q1 2016, the company has let fly an official blog post with some additional details. Confirmed thus far is that pre-orders for the headset will begin in 2015 and we can expect specs next week, and in the coming weeks, details on input and unannounced “made-for-VR games and experiences” that Oculus has in the works.

To the delight of fans, Oculus has announced in an official blog post that Oculus Rift pre-orders will start “later this year” in 2015, with the Oculus Rift release date ultimately landing in Q1 2016. Seemingly in rhythmic cooperation with Vale and Sony (but more likely just coincidence), the company now rounds out a very exciting rollout for consumer VR: Valve’s HTC Vive in Q4 2015, Oculus’ Rift in Q1 2016, and Sony’s Morpheus in Q2 2016.

And while the price has not yet been made public, Oculus has previously gone on record with a target price of $300 to $400 for the Rift, also saying that they intended to sell the headset at cost.

Next week the company promises to reveal specs of the new headset. While Oculus has remained tight-lipped on the prior Crescent Bay prototype’s specs, we’re hoping at minimum we’ll learn the resolution, field of view, and weight of the newly refined headset.

See Also: Oculus Rift CV1 High Res Photos Suggest a Lighter, More Comfortable Headset

Furthermore, the company teases that in the “week ahead” they’ll reveal “details around hardware, software, input, and many of our unannounced made-for-VR games and experiences coming to the Rift,” with a final tease of, “E3 is just around the corner — this is only the beginning.”

Second (arguably) only to the headset’s release date, the input question has been hot on developers minds for some time now. While Vive has the SteamVR Lighthouse controllers and Sony has the PlayStation Move, how will users of the Oculus Rift interact with the virtual world. We’ll have to (continue to) wait and see.

After all, what fun would it be if after all of Oculus’ hard work if they just told us everything at once? (sarcasm!)

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Ben Lang
Ben is the world's most senior professional analyst solely dedicated to the XR industry, having founded Road to VR in 2011—a year before the Oculus Kickstarter sparked a resurgence that led to the modern XR landscape. He has authored more than 3,000 articles chronicling the evolution of the XR industry over more than a decade. With that unique perspective, Ben has been consistently recognized as one of the most influential voices in XR, giving keynotes and joining panel and podcast discussions at key industry events. He is a self-described "journalist and analyst, not evangelist."
  • Gabriel

    Thanks for great news!
    Interesting video here about new release date: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LyXHFlOtSdc

  • Stray Toaster

    Palmer Luckey previously talked about different inputs for different VR experiences i.e. wheels for racing games, flight sticks for flight simulators, etc. I expect Oculus to reveal a partnership with some peripheral makers and a ‘Made for Rift’ seal to put on compatible controllers that work with their SDK. I also expect the price of the headset to be in the $400 – $500 range but there will be a lot of negative feedback about how much a complete system (headset, controllers, PC, software) will cost end-users.

    • Kennyancat

      The headset will likely be ~ $350 and not varying much. It will be sold at cost and I’m guessing you have an option to add Nimble VR other imput devices to your order.

  • brightfall_vr

    if the price is really low maybe I will buy it. they said it would le lowest possible I remember.
    I have no money for a 400 device. and 300 will be hard for me (very hard). I’m talking about euros.
    I will use my laptop. config is Intel Core i5-460M da 2,53 GHz, 4 GB DDR3, ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5650 + GPU Intel.
    it’s hard for me to follow vr news and than thinks how much will it cost. I will decide to continue following vr news about HMD (in general) when the prices will be annunced.

  • illuzion

    Exciting times ahead. I know a lot of people will buy the HTC rather than wait so I hope this doesn’t affect Oculus sales too much as they deserve the attention after all singlehandedly reviving the VR ecosystem. Ill be saving some $$ and buying both anyway, but can’t wait to see the beginning of a new era in gaming.

    It really baffles me why theres so much protest when having to possess a decent gaming rig is a pre-requisite. I understand not everybody has the cash to throw around but if gaming is your passion then its no different than any other hobby that costs $$$. PC hardware is relatively cheap these days and for the sum of what a good VR experience is, should be accessible to most people at some level.
    We demand a superior spec of a device, yet we bitch and moan when it won’t run on our shitty Harvey norman pc. :(

    Put a few bucks away for the next 12 months each week/fortnight and you shall have your gaming rig.

  • illuzion

    Lever looks like a thumb spring switch to slide the case in and out (IPD Adjustment), ergonomically it is exactly where you put your thumb when first adjusting the goggles.

    Lenses look more oval shape on the width, definitely have to be a larger FOV. just wondering how much.

  • crim3

    It would make a nice blog post on part of Oculus if they ever reveal how the CV1 has evolved during these crazy 2 years everytime a big investment has rised what they are able to achieve.
    This final design really looks like something sophisticated. I wonder if Valve and Sony will be able to make their headsets not look like toys in comparison.

  • mellott124

    Very exciting with all the new consumer hmds coming out. We’ll probably see a Note 5 Gear VR as well around that time. Time to start saving.

  • augure

    Hand Gesture tracking or nothing. Consumer market will not settle for a non-sensical Virtual Reality headset which plunges the user in visual and audio virtuality but has your hands reaching in the real world or stumbling on the desk to find the control, that’s stupid.

    They bought the technology, there’s the chip, there’s the software, I would be pissed if there’s no hand gesture input, and pretty sure it would be part of 2010s VR demise.