Facebook’s F8 developer conference starts Tuesday, May 1, and it’s a safe bet we’ll get pertinent details about the release of Oculus Go, the midrange virtual reality headset that was originally supposed to launch earlier in 2018. Although a release date hasn’t been announced, the stand-alone VR headset could be on shelves very soon and in the hands of F8 attendees even sooner.
Marco Antonio Liu, the co-founder of HappinssVR, snapped a picture in the lead-up to F8 that suggests attendees will receive an Oculus Go for free on Wednesday, May 2, the final day of F8, Road to VR reports.
While you have to be an invited developer to attend F8, if this is true, the Oculus Go’s retail release could be imminent. It’s highly unlikely that Facebook would hand out headsets if the Go wasn’t already ready to ship to retailers for sale.
In fact, it sure looks like retailers may already have the Go in stock and are just waiting for the release date to be unveiled. Reddit user Heaney555 posted a picture of a locked cabinet filled with Go headsets at his local Best Buy. The picture shows both 32GB and 64GB headsets. Although Facebook hasn’t officially confirmed a 64GB model, a Federal Communications Commission filing showed as much.
As we reported earlier, the headset was finally made available for pre-order on Amazon overnight. Unfortunately, pre-orders sold out within a few hours. Amazon has a placeholder date of December 31 for now, but it seems likely the retail giant also has Go headsets in stock that are just waiting to be shipped to customers.
While it’s unclear how many pre-orders Amazon sold through, it seems the Go will be a popular commodity. The Go is entirely cordless and sits somewhere between the Gear VR and Oculus Rift in terms of power, but without the need for a phone or PC. Don’t expect to play Rift, HTC Vive, or PlayStation VR-quality experiences on the Go, but if you’re interested in checking out the VR space, the Oculus Go might very well be the most accessible avenue. At $200, it’s ready to go out of the box.
If you’re intrigued by Oculus Go, stay tuned throughout F8.
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