Oculus, virtual reality company, at last put breaks on speculations of much awaiting virtual headset device launch date and on Wednesday announced the commencement date of gadget. The device will be officially goes in market in the first quarter of 2015.
Oculus is very confident that it would be able to entice large number of technology lovers via Oculus Rift and further said in its announcement the technology would “transform gaming, film, entertainment, communication and much more.”
This novelty is a determining step in giving new life to video game industry as well as to renowned startup. So far, virtual reality technology doesn’t make any perfect impression in market rather string of high-profile announcements at trade shows.
Oculus founder, Palmer Luckey, was itself a fan of virtual reality technology and to fulfill his dreams he co-founded the Oculus in 2012 through the encouragement and support of industry veterans. Before that the technology was only limited to Hollywood movies since the early 1990s, with films like “The Lawnmower Man.”
Oculus collected more than $2.4 million in pre-orders for its virtual reality headset via fan funding campaign. Other companies acknowledging the importance of such technology also started making moves. Among inspirers, Sony Corp (ADR)(NYSE:SNE) was one of them which announced last March that it will be planning to launch virtual reality headset called Project Morpheus designed for its PlayStation 4 video game console next year. Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) also joined the party after acquiring Oculus for $2 billion in the same month when Sony announced it Project Morpheus.
Since then, many companies including the likes of giants Samsung, Microsoft and Google have been in. These firms knowing the importance of such technology have shown their headset devices.
Other companies also announced their devices to launch next year which may pose a challenging condition for Oculus. Oculus Rift will start its journey in market following the launch of Vive manufactured by mutual partnership of smartphone maker HTC and expert game developer Valve. Both companies declared that that Vive will launch at the end of 2015. Other big formidable threat to Oculus Rift is Project Morpheus which will be launching next year. Similarly Samsung’s Gear VR designed especially for its smartphones will be in hands this year.
But Oculus thinks it has an upper hand over its competitors especially over Vive as the exclusive games made only for Oculus devices and entertainment options like movies created by the company’s own “Story Studio” team will possibly help the company to be in the spotlight.
