It was only a couple of years ago that Oculus set out to build a virtual reality headset, it launched a crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter to raise money and the campaign did really well. Close to 10,000 people supported the project with varying pledges, those who pledged enough for a development kit back then will now receive a new consumer version of the Oculus Rift for free.
Oculus has made this announcement merely a day after it confirmed that pre-orders for the Rift consumer edition will open tomorrow. It confirmed via a post on its blog today that the “Kickstarter Edition” of the Oculus Rift will be sent out for free to everybody who pledged for a developer kit in the original campaign.
This is a great way of appreciating all of those who took a chance on the company when it turned towards the public to raise money, many of them weren’t quite happy when Oculus decided to sell to Facebook, though the social network’s deep pockets did allow the company to grow its team and further improve its first virtual reality headset for the mass market.
There’s nothing different about the Kickstarter Edition other than the fact that the box will be marked as Kickstarter Edition and that these units will be “among the first” to start shipping. They even come with the two games that are free with all pre-ordered Rift units. If eligible backers are not located in the 20 countries where Rift is being officially launched the company wants them to know that its “working on an alternative.”
Filed in . Read more about Oculus Rift, Virtual Reality (VR) and Wearable Tech.