The Oculus VR Team announced in an official blog post that the unique controller for the Rift, the Oculus Touch, has been delayed. As a result, the Oculus Touch will not launch along with the Rift headset in the first quarter of 2016 as previously scheduled. Per the statement, the controller needed more time.
According to the announcement, the Oculus Touch will now be shipped for around the second half of 2016. Pre-orders for the controller are expected to start up about a few months prior to the target launch. Per the statement, “On Touch hardware, we’ve made significant advances in ergonomics, and we’re implementing many changes that make Touch even more comfortable, reliable, and natural. We’re also implementing changes that improve hand pose recognition.”
The Oculus VR team reassured fans that the Rift headset would stay on its target first-quarter shipping schedule. In addition, pre-orders for the Rift will likely begin very soon. The team is also hoping to output a larger number of pre-production runs, which will hopefully put the Touch controllers into the hands of the developers who will need it. The blog post also indicated that some new early previews of Oculus content could debut very soon, as soon as next week.
Unfortunately, the Rift headset will not have compatible controllers at launch. That will be a bit of a blow to sales. However, if the technology isn’t ready for the market, than delaying the hardware is the right move. It’s better to delay the tech and fix any issues than to release a defective product that consumers are disappointed with.
It will be interesting to see how well the Oculus and PlayStation VR technology pans out in the gaming marketplace. The good news is that through the Microsoft partnership, every Rift headset will be shipped with an Xbox One controller when it does ship in first quarter 2016.
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