Rift Pre-Order Update: Oculus Won’t ‘Sell Out,’ Pre-Order Locks In Priority For Touch Controllers

This week is already brimming with virtual reality news, but Oculus founder Palmer Luckey just dropped another detail. Pre-ordering a Rift gets you EVE Valkyrie. We knew that much. But it also gets you something else.

Those that get in on the first wave of pre-orders will also be locking up their spot in line to order Oculus’ VR controllers. Called Touch, the motion-enabled haptic input/output devices, will bring along a new wave of content.

The controllers were originally due a short period after the Rift’s first quarter 2016 launch. That was recently changed to the second half of the calendar year.

Luckey also confirmed that the Rift will carry a subsidized price. What this means is that Oculus will be selling it at as a loss-leader. This is similar to how consoles and software are sold. The platform holder takes a loss on hardware, but makes it up by building a bigger install base and collecting licensing revenue from software sales.

While we still don’t know the price of the Rift, this helps us set our expectations a bit in advance of pre-orders opening tomorrow. If you want one, get ready to order at 8 a.m. Pacific / 11 a.m. Eastern. 

Luckey says that the company will keep taking pre-orders without risk of “selling out.” If the company runs out of stock, it will just shift delivery date later.

[Source: Palmer Luckey on Twitter (1), (2), (3), (4)]

Our Take
Now that we know for certain that Rift headsets are being subsidized, it seems more likely that we’re looking at a $500 price point. Going higher puts Oculus at risk of repeating Sony’s PlayStation 3 error, crossing into pricing territory at which even enthusiastic early adopters might balk. We’ll find out for certain tomorrow, though.