Hundreds Of Oculus Rift Demo Stations Are Closing

Facebook is shutting down a good chunk of its Oculus Rift demo stations at Best Buy stores across the country. According to Business Insider, Facebook, which owns Oculus VR, will close 200 of its 500 pop-up Rift locations in the US.

An Oculus spokesperson described this move to GameSpot sister site CNET as part of wider "seasonal changes." Oculus will now prioritize around "larger markets," the representative said.

Business Insider heard from Best Buy retail sources that there were days when they would not give a single Rift demo. At some stores, Rift sales amounted to "a few headsets per week during the holiday season," with foot traffic falling off dramatically after the shopping season ended.

Best Buy announced in November that it had already given 300,000 virtual reality demos, and this was before the busy holiday shopping season where foot traffic rises dramatically.

For many, seeing is believing when it comes to VR. Even though there will be fewer Best Buy stores offering demos, you can still try the headset out at Microsoft Stores and others in the US, Canada, UK, France, and Germany, among other places.

"We still believe the best way to learn about VR is through a live demo," Oculus said in a statement.

In 2014, Oculus paid $2 billion to acquire Oculus VR. Earlier this month, it was revealed that this figure was actually closer to $3 billion with $700 million in retention and $300 million for milestones factored in, according to a reporter for The New York Times.

In other Oculus news, the company was ordered to pay $500 million to ZeniMax as part of a lawsuit over the Rift.