Oculus Rift is a discontinued line of virtual reality headsets developed and manufactured by Oculus VR, a virtual reality company founded by Palmer Luckey. It was the first virtual reality headset to provide a realistic experience at an accessible price, utilizing novel technology to increase quality and reduce cost by orders of magnitude compared to earlier systems. The first headset in the line was the Oculus Rift Development Kit 1 (DK1), released on March 28, 2013. The last was the Oculus Rift S, discontinued in April 2021.
The Rift went through various pre-production models prior to the release of the Oculus Rift CV1, the first Oculus Rift intended for use by the general public. Two of these, the DK1 in early-2013 and DK2 in mid-2014, were intended to provide content developers with a development kit platform to create content for the Rift's eventual consumer release. However, both development kits were purchased by many gaming enthusiasts who wished to get an early preview of the technology. The Rift saw its official consumer release in March 2016 with the Oculus Rift CV1, and was eventually replaced in March 2019 by the Oculus Rift S. The Oculus Rift software library is still compatible with its successor, the Oculus Go and the Oculus Quest.
