Since the launch of the Oculus Rift head-mounted display (HMD) back in March this year, the device has been plagued by stock shortages. Those that pre-ordered their headsets in January didn’t get them straight away, having to wait additional months for delivery. Then in May Oculus VR announced its retail plans, with 48 Best Buy locations getting demo stations along with a limited supply of stock. It now appears that the retailer has got online stock available with delivery quicker than what Oculus’ own website can provide.
Currently Best Buy is offering the Oculus Rift with a copy of Luckey’s Tale for $599 (the same as Oculus VR’s website) but with free shipping for US customers. The approximate delivery date is early July while ordering direct from Oculus on its website still lists August 2016 as the earliest shipping date. It’s unclear how much stock Best Buy may have, but it looks to be a quicker way of getting your hands on a Rift.
As for rival HTC Vive, the company also had issues with deliveries when it launched the HMD on 5th April. Those now seem to be resolved as earlier this month its was revealed any new orders for the headset would now ship worldwide within 2-3 days.
It’s a good time to own a HMD as last week both Oculus and Steam launched their respective summer sales, giving big discounts on virtual reality (VR) software for the first time. Oculus Home has 39 titles on sale while Steam has over 100 for the HTC Vive – with some also available for Oculus Rift.
And it’s now less than four months away until the launch of Sony Interactive Entertainment’s (SIE’s) PlayStation VR. With a cheaper price point and the massive install base of the PlayStation 4, it’ll be interesting to see if SIE can avoid the mistakes that dogged the other two at launch.
VRFocus will continue its coverage of both headsets, reporting back with any new announcements.
