Facebook, the company who bought Oculus VR in 2014, will start taking pre-orders for the Oculus VR headset on Jan. 6, Wednesday.
According to Fortune, the headset will be shipped in the first quarter, though both the price and release date are yet to be announced. Facebook will start taking the reservations on Wednesday, 8am Pacific Time over the Oculus website.
Each headset box will have a Microsoft Xbox One controller, and the consumer will receive two free games: "EVE Valkyrie," a CCP Games' space combat shooter, and "Lucky's Tale," a Playful's platform adventure game. Eventually, consumers will be able to purchase the Oculus Touch, a controller worn on hands that lets the player physically see their hands in a virtual space.
While the pre-order for the VR headsets is a significant deal for Oculus, an even bigger deal is when they announce the headset's price, which is expected later this week at CES in Las Vegas. Palmer Luckey, Oculus VR founder, will be answering questions during a Reddit AMA from CES on Wednesday at 6pm Pacific Time. The company will demonstrate its latest VR technology at the trade show.
Mashable stated that the shipping date is based on a discussion with Nate Mitchell, Oculus Vice President of Product, which happened in September during the company's last developer conference.
"There's no rush to take pre-orders. We don't need your money right now. It doesn't benefit us, and it doesn't benefit you either," he said. "I'm a guy who thinks about user experience all day long. Apple has nailed the consumer hardware launch experience. They announce it. You preorder it the next week. They ship it to you the week after or within a 2-4 week window, and you're like, 'Yay yay yay!'"
While Mitchell's words are not highly reliable as there are lots of moving pieces in the manufacturing process and he probably does not have the final say, he is a long-time member of the Oculus team. His words could explain the company's directions when taking pre-orders.
