Around 48 Hours To Go! Oculus Rift Will Begin Official Pre-Orders On January 6


One of the most-awaited products for 2016 is about to be launched for pre-orders pretty soon. Oculus has just announced that the official pre-orders for the Oculus Rift will start Wednesday, January 6.

Oculus also announced that every purchase of Oculus Rift would come with Lucky Tale by Playful and the Pre-Alpha Game Capture for EVE: Valkyrie.

Lucky Tale is an Oculus Studio title, and this is an adventure game about an adorable fox that travels through this charming world of “lush environments.”

Lucky Tale has already been praised by multiple critics during the demo. Original founder and inventor of Oculus Rift Palmer Luckey noted that the game has really showed the great potential of Oculus Gaming.

Oculus Rift Pricing and Specs

Oculus has not announced the pricing for the Oculus Rift yet, but Wired pointed out that Palmer has probably given the fans a hint.

Before Christmas last year, the Oculus Rift inventor took to Twitter to reach out to the fans.

“VR will become something everyone wants before it becomes something everyone can afford. Future advancements and high volume will make VR available to everyone eventually, but 1st gen will be mostly early adopters. … There are a lot of people who expect to spend a couple hundred bucks and use their existing low-end laptops.”

On the other hand, Greenlight VR CEO Clifton Dawson said he is expecting the price points to be around $399 to $599.

“Prices above this level will most certainly affect early sales, but fortunately Facebook has the ability to optimize decisions for the long-term, rather than near-term profitability,” Dawson says.

In his announcement, Luckey seemed to be justifying the surprising price tag of their new launch. Another Twitter user, Andrew Lauritzen, reached out to Luckey and tried to support his claim. He said that if the Oculus Rift would be expensive, he does not really expect it to be as expensive compared to other hobbies, cars, houses, etc.

Luckey then responded saying: “You are correct, but many people don’t really have hobbies — even the largest hobbyist markets are dwarfed by phone sales.”

Market Projections for Oculus Rift and VR Market

LAS VEGAS, NV - JANUARY 08: The Oculus VR Crescent Bay Headset prototype is displayed at the 2015 International CES at the Las Vegas Convention Center on January 8, 2015 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The immersive, virtual reality headset is meant to be a consumer version of the Oculus Rift and features 360-degree head tracking and high-quality integrated audio. CES, the world's largest annual consumer technology trade show, runs through January 9 and is expected to feature 3,600 exhibitors showing off their latest products and services to about 150,000 attendees. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
[Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images]
Senior Analyst from Gene Munster Piper Jaffray said the forecasts for virtual reality headsets is actually positive. They project that the market will grow from 12.2 million in 2016 to 100.2 million by 2020.

Luckey noted the following in one of his responses to the naysayers in Twitter.

“… the statement is not fallacious unless everyone can afford VR and you still don’t want it.”

Luckey also said that people should look at VR as the norm. A couple decades ago, people did not believe a home computer would be a reality but then here we are. Luckey’s statements seemed to align more to the projections on the market and he is probably right.

Another analyst at Piper Jaffray, Travis Jakel, said they are expecting $99 for the Gear VR that is expected to sell about 5 million units. Oculus Rift is expected to sell 3.6 million units this year.

Luckey will be answering questions during a Reddit AMA on January 6 at 6 p.m. Pacific Time.

[Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images]

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