Above: Oculus CEO Brendan Iribe, left, speaks at the Dublin Web Summit.
Oculus chief executive Brendan Iribe declined to give a specific timetable for when the world might finally see a consumer version of the company’s much-hyped Oculus Rift virtual reality headset.
“I think we’re getting very close,” Iribe said today on stage at the Web Summit in Dublin. “We want it to be a beautiful product. It’s not months away. It’s many months away.”
Expectations for Oculus have skyrocketed since Facebook acquired the company for $2 billion back in March.
While Oculus operates as an independent subsidiary of Facebook, Iribe his company’s “partnership” with the social networking giant has provided a number of benefits. Facebook has helped the company grow from 75 to 200 employees since March, Iribe said, by using its resources to help recruit and hire talent.
And Iribe said Facebook has helped Oculus set up a separate R&D group, something it couldn’t have done on its own as a startup.
Still, the big question lingers: When will consumers be able to buy the Rift?
Iribe said the developers kit the company released in September brings the company closer to that happening. But among the big challenges still to tackle is developing a proper input device as a companion to the VR headset. Iribe said keyboards and gamepads don’t cut it. And gesture-based devices are also unsatisfying.
He said the input needs to be tactile, but the company doesn’t yet know exactly what that input device looks like. And while it’s tempting to just get the VR headset out there, Iribe said the company is more intent on getting the whole experience right.
“We’ve gone out there and set this bar and said, ‘We want to get it right,’ ” Iribe said. “We don’t want it to be four or five years. We’re eager for this to happen.”
Facebook is the world’s largest social network, with over 1.15 billion monthly active users.
Facebook was founded by Mark Zuckerberg in February 2004, initially as an exclusive network for Harvard students. It was a huge hit: in 2 w... read more »
Oculus VR™ was founded by Palmer Luckey, self-described virtual reality enthusiast and hardware geek. The company launched a Kickstarter campaign to help fund development of their first product, the Oculus Rift, a ground-breaking vir... read more »
Web Summit 2014: CEO says Oculus “getting very close” to delivering consumer Rift VR headset
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