Oculus Rift Has Plans To Expand The Virtual Reality Boom

Oculus Rift is considered to be one of the leading virtual reality products out in the market today and the Facebook-owned company has big plans for expansion. Analysts are predicting that augmented and mixed reality will soon become a bigger business.

In an interview with USA Today, Oculus PC/VR chief Brendan Iribe said that people will first see virtual reality blend with augmented and mixed reality before products like MagicLeap or HoloLens make it into the mainstream market. The Oculus Rift team is definitely busy researching and investing in the upcoming VR boom. The MagicLeap product is kept under wraps while Microsoft's HoloLens is the developer-only AR headset which is priced at $3,000.

Industry advisor Digi-Capital is anticipating a $108 billion industry by 2021 according to the latest AR/VR report. Augmented reality is taking more time to be developed but it will eventually contribute to 80% of the total market revenue. Virtual reality goggles like Oculus Rift, Sony's PlayStationVR and HTC Vive has the ability to immerse a user to a three-dimensional CGI world.

Gamers make up the biggest chunk of virtual reality users to date and it's evident with hit games like PokemonGo that demand with augmented reality and VR will only increase overtime. Meanwhile, the Facebook-owned Oculus Rift has discounted the price the Rift headsets to increase awareness of the public to virtual reality technology according to NDTV. Touch controllers bundled with the Rift headsets are now selling for $598.

The current price of a standalone Oculus Rift headset is now at $499 and Touch controllers are selling for $99. On the annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas virtual reality technology was presented but becoming a mainstream product is still a long way down the road. The PlayStation VR, HTC Vive and the Rift headset has been working with various software developers to increase games that utilize VR.