The launch of the Oculus Rift virtual reality (VR) head-mounted display (HMD) hasn’t gone well. During launch day, 28th March 2016, it was expected that pretty much everyone that was set to receive a free device after backing 2012’s Kickstarter campaign would be getting their unit, with the first pre-orderers then getting their devices later in the week. As it stands nearly one month on, there are still Kickstarter backers without an Oculus Rift. Oculus VR is hoping to have this situation mostly resolved by the end of April, however.
The company said as much in a recent update over on the Oculus Subreddit. “We are making progress on getting your free Kickstarter Oculus Rifts out to you,” Oculus VR said in a statement to fans. “We’re on track to ship out the vast majority of the remaining Kickstarter Rifts at the end of April with a small number shipping in the first couple weeks in May. Please note that we’re shipping these specific Rifts in the order, by region, in which the Kickstarter surveys were completed.”
Once all of the Kickstarter units have gone out then more pre-ordered devices should also start getting sent out. By then it will be getting on for two months after initial deliveries were promised. It’s far from an ideal situation but Oculus VR isn’t alone in its struggles; HTC and Valve have faced similar difficulties with shipping the HTC Vive HMD following its ‘launch’ earlier this month, those is also committed to getting early customers their units by the end of the month.
For more on the Oculus Rift’s shipping, keep reading VRFocus.
