‘Beta’ consumer verison of Oculus Rift lands next summer

Oculus VR plans to launch a public ‘beta’ version of the Oculus Rift in summer 2015.

This will be the first consumer version of the virtual reality headset but only a limited number will be available, according to VRFocus and TechRadar. Distribution of these headsets will be handled internally by Oculus VR.

According to the two sites, multiple sources have revealed that work on the consumer version of the Rift has progressed more than has been previously reported, with headsets potentially arriving in gamers’ hands as early as April next year.

The upgraded Oculus Rift development kit began shipping back in July, and the firm’s Nate Mitchell told Develop earlier this year that it would be the last SDK before the launch of the commerical version.

Last week it was announced that Oculus is also working with Samsung to help the mobile firm develop its own VR device, called the Gear VR. Similar to the consumer version of Oculus, this will also have a limited launch to begin with.