If you backed the original Oculus Rift Kickstarer, you can receive a free limited edition consumer edition at launch.
The Oculus Rift virtual reality headset is finally coming out this year, even if the final price is a mystery. Actually, there’s one exception to that point: If you backed the original Rift Dev Kit on Kickstarter, you’ll get one for free. Oculus announced this morning that anyone who contributed to the DK1 reward tier during its campaign will receive a limited Kickstarter edition consumer model at launch.
“As a small token of our appreciation for your support, all Kickstarter backers who pledged for a Rift development kit will get a free Kickstarter Edition Oculus Rift,” Oculus announced via Kickstarter. “And like all Rift pre-order purchasers, you’ll receive a bundled copy of Lucky’s Tale and EVE: Valkyrie.”
If you’re a Rift backer who contributed enough for the DK1 model, all you have to do is complete an emailed survey by Feb. 1, 2016. You’ll also have to provide a shipping address to any of the 20 countries the consumer Rift will be launching in. Anyone outside those countries can still get a free consumer model, but Oculus is still working on an alternative delivery system.
All told, this is an impressive move on Oculus’ part. Roughly 7500 backers contributed enough for DK1s, so giving away finished versions means a huge audience will get excited for (and hopefully promote) the Rift in advance. That might give the Oculus Rift a renewed marketing edge that had softened as competitors rolled out VR headsets of their own. The question is whether the Rift can make the impact fans hoped for back in 2012, which we’ll find out in the coming months.
Source: Kickstarter, via The Verge
