After months and years of anticipation, the first Oculus Rift virtual reality headset has been delivered into a customer’s hands. Ross Martin was the very first person to get a pre-order in for the Rift when they opened in early January.
— Ross Martin (@RossDM) March 26, 2016
As a celebratory gesture, Palmer Luckey flew to Alaska to hand-deliver a Rift headset signed by all of the founders. To capture the moment Palmer utilized Facebook Live to stream the delivery and unboxing.
The whole thing is testament how off-the-cuff and, well, live Facebook Live is. Facebook owns Oculus which may explain why they chose it as the recording method of choice for this moment. The live stream begins with a classic “It’s working?” then later “Wait, what?”
Then, a Hawaiian shirt and flip flop clad Luckey rolls into an offive in Alaska where Martin works. Luckey wanders the halls a bit and then gets to the hand-off where he presents Martin with the first consumer Rift.
“I’ve been working on this thing for so long, and you’re the first person to actually get one,” Luckey said in the video. “So it’s kind of like me taking all of this work and handing it off to you so you’ve got to make sure you have fun with it or something.”
This is the first Rift to be delivered, but many more will be arriving Monday when the Rift officially launches. Most people will still have to wait a bit for the highly anticipated device. The $599 Rift is currently back-ordered for several months on the Oculus site.
Martin was at his office so he didn’t end up having his PC build. Therefore instead of sitting down for a virtual reality gaming session, Palmer had to settle for some chitchat with Martin about how much it sucks to be working on the weekends, before he ends up cutting the video.
But wait! Moments later, another live video went up where Martin gives a bit of his background and the pair chat about Alaska and sled dogs and stuff.
In addition to being a major moment for consumer virtual reality, this video also shows the dedication some Silicon Valley founders show for their personal brands. I mean, what the heck is Luckey doing wearing cargo shirts and flip flops in Alaska??
Hiking through Alaska in the winter wearing flipflops was a mistake
— Palmer Luckey (@PalmerLuckey) March 26, 2016
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