Haven’t Received Your Oculus Rift Preorder? Don’t Fret: Just Plan A Trip To Best Buy

If you were one of the first to preorder an Oculus Rift and have yet to receive it, there’s some good news: you might be able to go to a store and purchase it there instead. That’s a recommendation that comes straight out of the mouth of Oculus. In a new release, it states: “We know that many preorder customers are still waiting for their Rifts, so we’re offering those customers a chance to purchase Rift from retail instead.”

Just think about that comment for a moment. Even though some rabid fans had enough faith in the Rift months and months ago to plunk down a load of cash on one, someone who discovered Rift just today has a better chance of getting one into their home first.

As you might be able to imagine, this announcement has caused a bit of inevitable ire among Rift fans. Over at reddit, user astockman puts it the way most want to: “It is just mind blowing to me that I pre-ordered day 1 and people can order from Amazon months later and get one first. I get Best Buy to a small degree, as long term you are looking for retail shelf space and to have demos available in person. But Amazon too?! I just view this as completely screwing over your core fans.”

He continues that he ordered an HTC Vive well after his Rift, and it appears that the Vive will arrive first. And speaking of the Vive, HTC has got to be grinning excitedly that Oculus continues to have these missteps. If there’s one group of people you don’t want to annoy, it’s your most faithful fans.

Oculus said that if fans do end up getting a Rift at retail and cancel their preorder afterwards, the preorder rewards will remain. That means users will still have access to the Eve: Valkyrie Founder’s Pack. The note says that this can be done as of May 6th, so it seems likely that’s when the retail presence will begin.

If you want to try your hand at securing a unit at retail, Best Buy is where you’re going to want to be, and this is the tool you will want to use. Even if a local Best Buy has a demo set up, though, it doesn’t ensure that it will also be selling the units. While it’s bizarre to demo a product that can’t even be purchased, it’s also bizarre to sell units at retail when preorder customers are without theirs.