Oculus has announced that their ‘Touch’ VR controllers will be released in the second half of 2016. Previously the company had expected the Oculus Touch release date to come in the first half of the New Year.

After recently announcing a slight delay of Oculus Rift headset pre-orders, the company today said in a blog post that the accompanying Touch controllers will see a release date in the second half of 2016 rather than the first half, as previously stated earlier in 2015.

See Also: Oculus Rift Pre-order Slips to Early 2016, Q1 Launch Window Still on Track

The company had also said earlier this year that Touch pre-orders would open alongside the Oculus Rift pre-orders (now coming “soon after the New Year”); with the new announcement saying that pre-orders for Touch will open “a few months prior to launch,” it would seem that this will no longer be the case.

“The feedback on Touch has been incredibly positive, and we know this new timeline will produce an even better product, one that will set the bar for VR input. We appreciate your patience and promise Touch will be worth the wait,” reads the update.

Oculus further says that they’re creating “larger numbers of pre-production runs” to get early Touch hardware out to developers to begin crafting content for the VR controller.

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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."
  • Blargh

    darn, so HTC vive gets hand tracking out by early april. This is going to be tough to choose.

    • Martin Mølbach

      I chose the Oculus rift because it fits my head and nose better, and the controllers are supposed to be better with finger tracking and more comfy to hold in your hands. So I decided to wait for the touch controllers :D