After a week of virtual silence from Oculus about the status of their orders, people who purchased the Rift finally have an update, but it seems like the news will not be welcomed. A shipping delay is holding up some early orders of the highly anticipated Oculus Rift virtual reality headset, which was finally released on March 28th, following years of development and hype.
However, there is some good news as well. The good news is that the company is making up for the delay by covering shipping costs. Oculus CEO, Brendan Iribe, announced on Twitter (@brendaniribe) on Saturday morning that due to the unexpected shipping delay, they will pay for shipping of all orders up to midnight Pacific time April 1. The free shipping bonus will apply to international as well as U.S. orders.
Also read: iFixit breaks down Oculus Rift to reveal custom display and new lenses
The company had started taking pre-release orders, starting January 6th, 2016. Previously, they had also made commitments to send the product to 9,522 Kickstarter supporters from its 2012 crowdfunding campaign, that eventually raised a whopping $2,437,429 in pledges.
In a letter sent to customers on April 1st and first reported by Forbes, Oculus stated, “We’ve been working through an unexpected component shortage, and unfortunately, that issue has impacted the original shipping estimates for some early customers.” They had also elaborated in the letter that the virtual headsets and bundled accessories are shipping every day and that all customers can expect shipment status updates online by Tuesday, April 12th.
Furthermore, do keep in mind that as some of the shipments are going out, there is an unlike possibility of the issue becoming a functional or performance one. Though this definitely seems like a shortage of components issue.
On a less relevant note, with the Rift Virtual headset, you will get a remote control, a standalone sensor, a Xbox One controller with USB dongle, and required USB cables. The letter had not specified exactly which component has caused the issue at hand.