The Oculus Quest in both 64 GB and 128 GB models are sold out – you cannot find them in stock anywhere in the United States currently. Every online portal that was previously caring the headset now lists both devices as out of stock – many indicating no specific date when they expect to see more Oculus Quest VR headsets back in stock.
In addition to the Oculus Quest being sold out, the Valve Index, the VR Headset that sits at the other end of the market in terms of cost, is also sold out in the United States with no clear date for when it will be back in stock.
For the Oculus Quest and the Valve Index to be sold out, especially the Oculus Quest, one of two things must be true. Either the product forecasting groups at both Valve and Facebook are bad with numbers and, well, forecasting – OR, the demand for VR has far outpaced predictions. Perhaps we are seeing a little bit of both!
We have been covering the Oculus Quest outage across several online stores since the beginning of December (link) and the situation has only gotten worse. There is virtually no online store that is carrying the Oculus Quest that can deliver a unit before Christmas this year. And the Oculus website (link) is also saying that they are not able to fulfill orders until mid-February.
For some this situation might look bleak – and in the short term, it might be the cause of some disappointment for some would-be VR gift-givers or VR gift-receivers. But, when looked at from a longer-term perspective, the explosion of interest in VR is validating the VR platform – giving currently VR enthusiasts and VR Game developers all the right signals that VR is here to stay!
What does this mean for the VR community? Mostly good things! Of course, there will be a learning curve and some newcomers to VR that will have negative first experiences. But, there is a growing community of conscientious and talented individuals and companies that have worked for years to make the onboarding process as painless as possible.
A good example of this is the First Steps experience that new Oculus customers get when they put on the headset for the first time. This experience, and others like it, does a great job introducing people to VR who are unfamiliar with the interaction models and the greater level of immersion that comes with the platform.
HTC has also put in the time to make the onboarding of newcomers as easy as possible by creating a similar experience for the Vive headsets and available on the Viveport Store.
Virtual Reality is going to some major grown in 2020 and we are excited to have a front-row seat to the greatest show on earth, or in space, or under the ocean, or in the far corners of your imagination! With Virtual Reality coming to the broader world, we are destined to see more than we ever thought possible!
