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[XiaNaphryz]

http://www.theverge.com/2016/4/12/11413274/oculus-rift-vr-headset-preorders-delayed-months

Many people who preordered the Oculus Rift will be waiting significantly longer than expected. After announcing delays because of an "unexpected component shortage," Oculus has now updated the expected ship dates for customers' virtual reality headsets, pushing some back by a month or more. As detailed on a Reddit thread, people who ordered on the first day (sometimes within the first hour) have gotten new ship dates that range from May to June. The very first Rift headsets shipped in late March.

Oculus sent emails to Rift buyers in early April, informing them that filling orders was taking more time than expected and promising new estimates soon. Unsurprisingly, early adopters aren't happy. While there have been attempts to methodically reverse-engineer details that could reveal Oculus' shipping plans, there's not an obvious pattern to how long a given Rift is delayed. Some people have reported getting bumped from March to early May or even June, while others have reported getting May orders delayed only until June — which would make sense if Oculus is planning to have ramped up production by early summer. (For reference, I ordered a Rift about 20 minutes after preorders opened, got an April ship date, and have a new estimate of May 16th to 26th.) If you order a Rift right now, Oculus estimates an August arrival.

We've reached out to Oculus for details about the average delay that Rift customers can expect. We've also asked how this affects people who bought Oculus Rift PC bundles, which opened for preorders separately, and whether it means that retail units will be arriving in stores before they come to early customers. Oculus isn't charging for preorders until they actually ship, so at the very least, no one is paying for something they haven't received — and anyone who waits is getting their $50 shipping fee waived on the $600 order. Oculus has said that the free units that original Kickstarter backers are receiving come from "a different allocation," so they hopefully won't face the same delays.

For reference, my own pre-order was delayed from April to late May/early June.

EDIT: Update from Palmer Luckey - https://twitter.com/PalmerLuckey/status/719960843639586818

The problem was fixed last week, but no, can't share further details. Ramping up production to keep up with demand.

11:50 AM - 12 Apr 2016

 

[War Eagle]

Mine went from April to May 30- June 9.

Kind of works out for me because I am going to be out of the country from May 1 - May 28th.

 

[jiggles]

Which component? The headset?

 

[Struct09]

From April to late May/early June here

 

[diablos991]

The missing component is a supply chain department.

 

[metareferential]

I'm a KS backer and I'm still waiting, so I don't buy their narrative.

 

[Dreams-Visions]

Mine went from April to May 30- June 9.

Kind of works out for me because I am going to be out of the country from May 1 - May 28th.

That's the fullest I've ever seen a glass half-full.

The missing component is a supply chain department.

sheeeyit

Which component? The headset?

I'm assuming something related to the lenses since I saw some reports that maybe the wrong lenses (an early version) was being put in CV1's instead of the ones Oculus wanted.

Good luck to those enduring the long wait. Hope you didn't schedule any time off to enjoy your new toys..

 

[Th3BranMan92]

Don't you see? We've all been wearing our Rifts the whole time. There is no spoon.

 

[MiamiWesker]

Yeah late May now, this is a total mess.

 

[dumbo]

I'm assuming something related to the lenses since I saw some reports that maybe the wrong lenses (an early version) was being put in CV1's instead of the ones Oculus wanted.

That was an April fools by someone on reddit.

 

[Wallach]

Yeah, I wound up going April -> late May too.

Wound up cancelling. I'm just trying to fuckin' drive cars in the virtuals and the universe is conspiring against me right now.

 

[Kawngi]

Went from April to May 9th-19th

zzzz

 

[Megalosaro]

I heard about this last week. Was mentitled in a supply chain news group I subscribe to.

 

[Specialmias]

Oh the shitstorm that is forming. I'm May now, vive will be here first. Still though, I understand they can't explain which component it was to protect partner reputation. However in the short term they look incredibly incompetent and when gen 2 of VR headsets appear consumers are going to be less likely to go oculus. What with the unsubstantiated data collection claims, exclusivity and now this.

 

[Ombala]

Pro tip, make sure you have the components you need before you launch a product.

 

[Owari]

Early April to Early June here. What a colossal cluster fuck.

 

[Megalosaro]

Pro tip, make sure you have the components you need before you launch a product.

It's not so simple. A supply chain is a complicated system built up over 100s of companies. You have dozens of vendors supply parts to a manufacturer overseas. They sometimes under deliver their commitments. All of these components come from different locations and then you have all sorts of companies involved with transporting. You have nvoccs, iacs, steamship lines and other firms involved. Not to mention government agencies

Getting something from point a to b is hard work. There are a million things that can go wrong

 

[Orbis]

It's not so simple. A supply chain is a complicated system built up over 100s of companies. You have dozens of vendors supply parts to a manufacturer overseas. They sometimes under deliver their commitments. All of these components come from different locations and then you have all sorts of companies involved with transporting. You have nvoccs, iacs, steamship lines and other firms involved. Not to mention government agencies

Getting something from point a to b is hard work. There are a million things that can go wrong

You can say this about any major product launch. Yet this kind of fiasco seldom happens. Do we just put it down to 'they've never done hardware'? They have a huge backer (well, owner) in the form of Facebook.

 

[Krejlooc]

Which component? The headset?

They won't clarify.

 

[Krejlooc]

I'm assuming something related to the lenses since I saw some reports that maybe the wrong lenses (an early version) was being put in CV1's instead of the ones Oculus wanted.

That was just early KS recipients being confused by the crepuscular rays causes by the fresnel lenses.

 

[Megalosaro]

You can say this about any major product launch. Yet this kind of fiasco seldom happens. Do we just put it down to 'they've never done hardware'? They have a huge backer (well, owner) in the form of Facebook.

Every major product launch has supply chain problems. If abutting the problem is oculus being over optimistic of how McNutt they would have available

 

[Wallach]

Every major product launch has supply chain problems. If abutting the problem is oculus being over optimistic of how McNutt they would have available

friends don't let friends post on mobile

 

[dangerskew]

Mine went from June to mid-July. Ordered on Jan 10. Angry about it, but there's so many damn games coming out in June I think I'll live.

 

[cleveridea]

Last time I checked a preorder was going to ship in August so...wow thats a long time

Glad I preordered the Vive instead since that was less than 2 months. However, will they have the same shortages?

 

[Steel]

I've been waiting to order one until the shipment dates became reasonable.

I'll be waiting for awhile, won't I?

 

[Krejlooc]

This kind of speaks poorly about hopes of getting Oculus Touch out this year IMO. All of Oculus' launches have been like this. They really screwed up with the original DK1 release, they had the same screw ups with the DK2 release, and now this with CV1. They haven't even taken pre-orders for the Touch yet.

 

[Foggy]

Praise Jesus for Dark Souls 3 to keep me occupied until the end of April

 

[elyetis]

At that point they really should have just waited for Touch to be ready too, I mean if they can even get those ready for 2016.

 

[tearsintherain]

I wish they'd be a little more transparent and say what exactly went wrong. "component shortage" doesn't tell me shit - missing xbox controller dongles? Fresnel lens were bad?

I have no problem with delays, shit happens. Just when companies seem like they are hiding stuff people just assume the worst, and now I can only think that somehow the Rift I am getting is going to be "defective", and maybe its just better waiting for CV2

 

[WGMBY]

That was just early KS recipients being confused by the crepuscular rays causes by the fresnel lenses.

And also a April's Fool post on Reddit saying the Lenses were defective in initial shipments. Wasn't updated until much later with the author admitting it was a prank.

 

[NOLA_Gaffer]

Where's the "Failure to Launch" movie poster 'shop when we need it?

 

[Raylan]

Which component? The headset?

The missing component is a supply chain department.

 

[Krejlooc]

And also a April's Fool post on Reddit saying the Lenses were defective in initial shipments. Wasn't updated until much later with the author admitting it was a prank.

I couldn't remember if that one said the lenses or the xbox dongle.

Either way, as far as I know, the component hasn't been discovered outside of wild guesses.

 

[Kyne]

waited for the US version of DS3 to release to make the announcement.

smart.

 

[geordiemp]

Which component? The headset?

OK that made me laugh more than it should.

 

[Struct09]

Praise Jesus for Dark Souls 3 to keep me occupied until the end of April

Dark Souls 3 and Uncharted 4 are my anti-drug

 

[mrklaw]

That was just early KS recipients being confused by the crepuscular rays causes by the fresnel lenses.

This whole launch is crepuscular

 

[pj]

This kind of speaks poorly about hopes of getting Oculus Touch out this year IMO. All of Oculus' launches have been like this. They really screwed up with the original DK1 release, they had the same screw ups with the DK2 release, and now this with CV1. They haven't even taken pre-orders for the Touch yet.

We don't know how preventable this issue was, could be 0%, could be 100%. The controllers are much simpler devices and unless the component shortage is related to the camera, I don't see it having any impact on Touch.

I am going to make a BOLD prediction now.

They are going to give Touch for free to everyone who got a rift before the launch of Touch, which I am predicting will be in August. Given all these delays it's not going to be a tremendous amount of people, plus it would help tremendously with their image, plus it will give developers more incentive to release touch games if there isn't a fractured market.

 

[War Eagle]

That's the fullest I've ever seen a glass half-full.

Yeah, but what am I really gonna do, ya know? It would have been nice to play around with my CV1 before I leave, but it will be just as much fun when I return. Life's too short to let shit like this stress you out too much.

 

[Betta Lines]

This whole launch is crepuscular

I'm extremely aberrated with the whole thing.

 

[rambis]

The missing component is a supply chain department.

Came to make this joke lol. Obviously we don't know what's going on but I've expected this kind of issue from Oculus alot more than Sony or HTC. FB probably has a good bit to climb in the world of hardware and being platform holders.

 

[RotBot]

Spending 10 seconds looking at my address to make sure it was correct may have caused a 2 week delay in my shipment.

 

[MyleMan1010]

I went from June to July 4-14. Hopefully I will have had a Vive for 2 months.

 

[RibMan]

How did they not know there would be a component shortage before launch?

 

[Artanisix]

EleGiggle canceled my order

 

[Orbis]

Every major product launch has supply chain problems. If abutting the problem is oculus being over optimistic of how McNutt they would have available

Loving the autocorrect. I don't doubt other products don't have supply chain issues but we rarely see these issues cause such significant delays to those wishing to buy at launch. I mean, you're looking well into the summer if you wanted one now.

For me I'm fortunate enough not to have a graphics card anywhere near capable of VR (660Ti) so I can't even be tempted by it currently.

 

[Guardian Monkey]

jesus these head sets are going to be sold out all year arent they?

 

[Graphics Horse]

How did they not know there would be a component shortage before launch?

It's a typo it's supposed to say competence shortage. Not that htc seem to have a surplus of it.

 

[wrowa]

Have developers talked about software sales yet? I'm really curios to know how the devs who worked extra time to get their games ready for launch feel about all of this. Having to hope that people still have your game in mind whenever they receive their headset must be a nightmare.

 

[CyberPunked]

So glad I got mine today.