According to a report from Variety, Facebook is planning to launch the Oculus Go standalone VR headset on May 1st, during the F8 conference. Variety’s report is supported by confirmations from multiple unnamed sources. We’ve reached out to Oculus on our own for comment, but representatives declined to provide comments at this time.
The Oculus Go headset was announced at Oculus Connect 4 (OC4) last October and is set at a price point of about $200. Based on what we’ve heard, the headset will be on par with the Samsung Gear VR from a technical perspective, although it does not require a smartphone or PC at all since it’s entirely standalone. According to John Carmack, the Oculus Go will perform “significantly better” than a Galaxy S7-powered Gear VR.
Furthermore, an FCC filing seems to indicate that there could be multiple versions of the headset with different amounts of storage space, similar to modern phone models.
Despite the fact that Oculus is aiming to launch the headset soon this year, we still haven’t had a chance to go hands-on with one yet and we don’t actually know a firm launch date or list of launch titles — although there could be up to 1,000 in total. That being said, we’re eager to find out more.
When the Oculus Go does finally launch, we’ve rounded up a quick list of apps we think would really help the standalone headset shine.
Since Facebook’s head of VR and AR products and hardware, Andrew Bosworth, confirmed that F8 will be big for AR/VR, there may be some validity to this leak after all.
Update: This story has been updated twice with additional info and clarity.
