Oculus To Deliver Free Rift To All Kickstarter Backers

Nearly three years ago, Palmer Luckey and his small team at Oculus launched the Kickstarter campaign that started this whole VR revolution the world is about to embark on. The original promise was to deliver a developer kit to start creating VR experiences with the expectation of a retail release in the future. Oculus made good on that promise a long time ago, but it seems the company is not done thanking the original believers in VR.

Oculus made a surprise announcement today: Every single person that bought an original developer kit will be receiving a free Kickstarter Edition Oculus Rift. Backers will also receive Lucky’s Tale and EVE: Valkyrie bundled with the Rift, just as those who pre-order hardware starting tomorrow.

Oculus sent out a message through Kickstarter this morning to all backers that made the initial pledge notifying them of the exciting news. The company said backers will need to fill out a survey and provide shipping information before February 1 to qualify for the free Rift. Oculus did note that the Rift is only launching in 20 countries, so there may be backers that are left out. The company said it is “working on an alternative” for those living outside the launch countries.

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 Kevin Carbotte is a contributing writer for Tom's Hardware who primarily covers VR and AR hardware. He has been writing for us for more than four years. 

  • DrGreen
    You lucky buggers. :P I really hope they keep it at the $300 price range they promised. I've heard some rumors that its going to be up to $500 USD. Which will be over $700 here in Canada :( It's almost worth the trip to USA to buy one.
    Reply
  • dark_lord69
    For me it will be the Oculus price plus $220 for a video card upgrade.
    Reply
  • Kahless01
    went from 250 to 350 and now that I finally got into the preorder store, 600$. no thanks. when it was somewhat affordable I would consider it. but anymore.
    Reply
  • d_kuhn
    If it's $300 I'm ordering tomorrow... $500 and I'll have to think about it. What I REALLY want is for StarVR to get their unit out with qhd resolution and >180 degree fov... but that'll mean upgrading my PC (oc'd i5/970) to something that can handle 5k x 1440.
    Reply
  • ChronosVRdS
    You lucky buggers. :P I really hope they keep it at the $300 price range they promised. I've heard some rumors that its going to be up to $500 USD. Which will be over $700 here in Canada :( It's almost worth the trip to USA to buy one.
    Oficial price is $599 for pre-orders
    Reply
  • Westerly
    the article says everyone that bouth the DK1 gets a free release version. But then yu say only kickstarter people. I'm guessing it's only kickstarter since I bought a DK1 and have heard nothing about a free kit. just an FYI
    Reply
  • DrGreen
    17269659 said:
    You lucky buggers. :P I really hope they keep it at the $300 price range they promised. I've heard some rumors that its going to be up to $500 USD. Which will be over $700 here in Canada :( It's almost worth the trip to USA to buy one.
    Oficial price is $599 for pre-orders
    Well, it looks like the rumors were right.
    Reply