Tech enthusiasts looking to a get a hands-on Oculus Touch’s virtual reality tech may have to wait a little bit longer. The company announced in a blog post that the launch date of the Oculus touch controller that goes with its virtual reality headset has been delayed till the second half of 2016.


That means the Oculus Rift headset will ship with an Xbox One controller — a traditional video game input device — when it debuts in the first quarter. Preorders for the Oculus Rift will start “very soon.”

The reason, you ask? The Facebook-owned company claims it needs time to implement changes they’ve made in the ergonomics of hardware and improving hand pose recognition. The sweet part is that these changes are supposed to render Touch even more comfortable and reliable in terms of user experience, something we wouldn’t mind at all when it comes to virtual reality.

However, the pushing back of the schedules is significant because a lot of developers are looking to tap into the Oculus ecosystem. Tech adviser Digi-Capital estimates that VR will be a $30 billion business by 2020, but that is dependent on strong platform launches by companies such as Oculus.

Oculus VR is also setting up a larger pre-production run so that it can get more prototypes to developers. Oculus said there will be a lot of “groundbreaking new content launching alongside Touch.” Early previews will be shown at the Oculus Connect 2 in September, and the Oculus team said the Touch will be worth the wait.

You might be wondering what the fuss about the Touch controller really is. Unlike the standard gamepad, Oculus’ two-part Touch motion-controller can translate real-world hand motions into actions in VR games and apps something that can’t be achieved with the former. The prices for the VR headset and the Touch controller are yet to be announced.

In addition to Oculus Rift, 2016 has a lot of other VR gadgets lined up, such as the Playstation VR and HTC Vive headset which are expected to be launched sometime in the first half of 2016.


 

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.