Oculus have today started taking pre-orders for the Oculus Rift, the long-awaited virtual reality headset poised to be the first consumer grade headset of its kind to make it into the hands of virtual reality fans.

oculus-rift-xbox-one-controller-included

Pre-Order the Oculus Rift

The Oculus Rift is now available to pre-order and headed for global distribution in March, shipping with the headset itself, a single IR camera for positional tracking, and a wireless Xbox One controller for input. You can also expect both EVE: Valkyrie and Lucky’s Tale inside the box when your Rift arrives.

Oh, and if you’re an original backer, you’ll be getting the new limited edition Oculus Rift for free – Kickstarter surveys for which were sent out yesterday and must be completed before February 1st.

See Also: Free Limited Edition Rift Coming to Oculus Kickstarter Supporters

oculus-rift-cv1-e3-2015-xbox-controller

Unsure if the Oculus Rift is right for you or perhaps you have some burning questions preventing you from hitting that buy button? You may want to check out the AMA Oculus are planning this afternoon at 6pm PST.

If you’re thinking of pre-ordering and ‘stepping into the rift’, your PC better meet the minimum requirements (listed below) to run it, or have something like Road to VR’s own AVADirect-built Exemplar PC in your possession.

  • NVIDIA GTX 970 / AMD 290 equivalent or greater
  • Intel i5-4590 equivalent or greater
  • 8GB+ RAM
  • Compatible HDMI 1.3 video output
  • 2x USB 3.0 ports
  • Windows 7 SP1 or newer

So with the Oculus Rift out, we still have the HTC Vive coming in April and the PlayStation VR headsets in Q2 2016 – prices are not available for these as yet however.

SEE ALSO
Apple Reportedly Expands Vision Pro Production Capacity Following Successful US Launch

Road to VR have feet on the ground at CES 2016, and will be reporting on all things Oculus in the coming days. Check back for breaking news and the latest information about the new Oculus Rift.

Newsletter graphic

This article may contain affiliate links. If you click an affiliate link and buy a product we may receive a small commission which helps support the publication. More information.


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 3,500 articles on the topic. Scott brings that seasoned insight to his reporting from major industry events across the globe.
  • Rafał Kun

    shop is down :)

    • Mageoftheyear

      Instantly. The second I clicked pre-order now. :P

  • Rafał Kun

    lol the price in the shop is set to $59900 – that cant be right

    • Shonkee

      Same as all above, stuck at Agree screen, 3 different browsers, seperate seesion on browsers an even went incognito mode, seemed to help but now stuck

      • Tsunvsmoon

        managed to order mine without any problems in first 5 mins, I had trouble signing up to the newsletter though, estimated dispatch is March… fingers crossed

        • Shonkee

          Been trying since bang on 4 and seen the shippinment date move from March to April, still not able to order :(

          • Tsunvsmoon

            Just had a email stating first shipment will be on 28th March so April is still really early

  • Mageoftheyear

    Hi Scott, aren’t those the recommended specs? Not the minimum specs?
    I can’t find the minimum though, all Oculus has up are the recommended:
    https://support.oculus.com/hc/en-us/articles/215760247-Recommended-System-Specifications-

  • Jib

    I just managed to pre order mine Oculus Rift (£499.00 ) x 1 = £499.00 + £30 shipping.
    hopefully I will be one of the first to get it after all the Kickstarters get their free 1 :(

    It was a bit more than I was hoping to pay, now I need to start saving for a new PC!

  • Jack Singularity

    $600.00!!!! What the Hell Palmer!

  • WHAAAAAT? 699 EUR without shipping???? And this was supposed to be heaviliy subsedized price? I am waiting for vive…

    • Tsunvsmoon

      vive might actually cost more unfortunately but prices for both headsets will come down in price eventually

      • Mark Kiernan

        I predict by the end of the year the OR will be on sale for less than 400.

  • Zach Mauch

    I’ve tried there different payment methods and none are working. Anyone else have this issue?

    • Brandon Toy

      Do you use Safari? I tried refreshing my Safari page several dozen times. Then I tried ordering on Firefox and it seemed to work.

      • Frank Taylor

        I had the same problem with Chrome on Windows believe it or not. Switched to Firefox and it worked!

        • Zach Mauch

          I think they just finally got it working. I tried chrome on my phone at first then firefox on my pc next. Finally started working about 15 minutes ago.

    • Ian Crosson

      I have same issue with Chrome and Firefox.

  • El_MUERkO

    499 British Pounds … hmm
    599 US Dollars … ok
    699 Euros … … … wut?
    649 Australian Dollars …. ……… did they just make up the pricing by pulling random numbers out of hats?

    • sntxrrr

      499 pound = 678.57 euro. Crossing the Channel apparently costs 21.43 euros…
      599 dollars + 21% tax is 674.19 euro so crossing the Atlantic is only 4.36.
      But at least shipping is included! Oh, wait…

      If I come across as whining, it’s just because I have nothing else to do while trying to complete my order. (c’mon, take my money Oculus)

      • sntxrrr

        Yay, the order is placed!
        741 euros is a lot! I want to live the future so I’m game but this will hurt uptake.

  • sntxrrr

    I’m stuck on the “agree & complete order” screen using Paypal. Can everyone else please stop ordering for a moment so I can complete mine? :-)

  • Piotrek

    Palmer – You said that after Facebook deal You can get better specs for less money. How do You justify price increase almost two fold. I am very disappointed, I ordered DK2, but I cannot support you anymore you greedy bastards :(

    • Arnaldo Cesar

      Wait until the vive releases a price then you can go ape shit on facebook. If the vive costs upwards of 1000 USD than you will see just how much facebook subsidized the Rift.

      • Piotrek

        I know it will be more expensive then the rift and that’s why I will to skip gen 1 altogether. Too bad that I invested in Omni, become now I do not have headset to go with. There are always Chinese people who can make stuff cheaper. My rant on Palmer was become he himself in one of interviews said that consumer rift will be at similar price as DK and I wish them to flop. Next gen will be cheaper and better, I can wait a year.

  • Ian Crosson

    I keep getting “something wrong with card”. Using VISA and Discover. I even see $1 charge and refund on those accounts showing it is testing. Eh’ guess these things happen with new releases.

  • Ian Crosson

    HAHAHAHA They just changed description of item to est ship date April. That probably has something to do with issue.

    • Ian Crosson

      And now the ordering works. If ya’ll are having issues try again.

  • Owain Evans

    Glad someone took a screenshot of the March delivery, as its now been changed to April. Which is not Q1, another broken promise.

  • Matt R

    £530! Ok HTC. Your move.

    • Mark Kiernan

      There is word that it was going to cost about $1000 (the HTC), but I doubt it.

      • Proyb P

        Vive is double the fun, double the price!

  • sntxrrr

    ..it does come in a very nice box plus an Oculus remote as seen before but never described before.

    • Jack Singularity

      Thats awesome but jesus its a lot of money. Even 500 would have been a bit more palatable, closer to a console system at launch.

  • Mark Kiernan

    Hmmm. I think it will get a Galaxy S6 for 400EUR and a Gear VR for 99.

  • Mark Kiernan

    I think it will be interesting to see what Sony comes up with, price wise.

  • Mark Kiernan

    Facebook could have given it away for free and put ads everywhere. ;)

  • Mark Phillips

    Yes, promises have been broken. But VR is here. Maybe it’s a little more expensive than we had hoped, but VR is here and each year it will get cheaper and cheaper.

  • kosmo1982

    i will go for cmoar with addon 2K screen which totals 285$ with shipping.should be good enough for me

  • Kev

    Wow, that’s expensive. Glad I bought a ps4 instead of upgrading my graphics card. I bet PSVR will cost $200 less than this.

  • Muckylittleme

    Hey, you know how I said $350 then maybe a bit more?
    Well now a decided to fuck you all, $600 please muahahahahahahahhahaa
    What> You live in the UK?
    Well then that will be $730 wahahahahhahahahh!

    Fuck you Palmer, maybe next year

    • And without any lube! AAAw, how lucky, FEEEEEL THE LOVE!

    • Derek Peavey

      At least it’s not 10,000UKP like it was last year. What’s a couple hundred quid more?

  • Derek Peavey

    I just pre-ordered. God help me. I’ve been itching for VR for two decades now. We’ve arrived. I’m so not missing this.