Oculus May Have Something in Store for Their 2012 Kickstarter Backers as the Consumer Rift Launches

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At Oculus Connect 2015 I sat down with Oculus Founder Palmer Luckey to learn more about the latest at the conference and the impending launch of the consumer version of the Oculus Rift. Although the company’s 2012 Kickstarter seems like ancient history, Oculus may yet have a little something in store for the folks that helped to get the ball rolling.

Speaking with Luckey, I recalled the record-breaking 2012 Oculus Rift Kickstarter. The young company, almost entirely unheard of at the time, took to the crowdfunding platform, raising funds to create development kit for the Oculus Rift (this would become the ‘DK1’). The ultimate goal was that the dev kit would allow developers to begin creating content for the Rift so that gamers would have something to play when the consumer version of the headset launched.

See Also: The First Oculus Rift Has Rolled off the Production Line

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Oculus Founder Palmer Luckey shows off an early DK1 following the 2012 Kickstarter

Oculus set their Kickstarter goal at $250,000, but blasted through that in less than 24 hours. The campaign would go on to raise more than $2.4 million, 974% of its goal, making it one of the most successful ever. 9,522 backers contributed to the campaign, and without their help, Oculus may have never taken off as it did.

And so after an exciting journey from then to now, with the launch of the consumer Oculus Rift finally on the horizon, would Oculus remember the folks that came together to support the vision of the Rift long before so many others?

As it turns out, the answer may be yes.

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I asked Luckey directly, who, with a classic twinkle in his eye and a hint of a smile, dropped a knowing tease without spilling the beans.

“I can’t say anything about that right now… I will talk about that in the future.”

I had suggested perhaps a jump to the front of the pre-order line for backers, but there’s really no telling what recognition there might be, big or small, for that band of early Rifters.

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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."
  • ElectroPulse

    Ah, dangit, I missed the Kickstarter by a week, but was one of the first pre-orders… Whatever it is, it’ll be some nice recognition for the group that helped get it all started :)

    • brandon9271

      Same here. I preordered but missed the kickstarter.. We probably wont get crap. lol

  • Mageoftheyear

    Honestly any form of commemoration would be cool, but as a backer I don’t feel that it’s something I’m owed. I got my poster+tee.

  • SuperDre

    I wouldn’t be suprised if the backers each get a CV1..

    • agredz

      Maybe they get a Oculus Touch if they buy a CV1?

      • SuperDre

        that could be the case, but eventually when the Touch actually ships every CV1 comes with a Touch (instead of a xboxone controller)..

    • laser632

      They won’t get a CV1. More likely a game timed for release…

      • Psycz

        apparently they do get CV1..

    • Psycz

      nice guess

  • David Mulder

    Weeh, I didn’t have a CC back then (in our country they are REALLY uncommon) so I backed as soon as it was possible to back it through their own site (not sure whether I got myself a CC at that point especially for that or whether they supported PayPal), oh well :) Bad luck for me it seems :P

    Either way, quite nice that they might have something in store for those backers, all in all it’s them that gave millions of demos for free and created those demos just for the love of VR :))) .