First Oculus Rift Ships; Deliveries Start Next Week

The first consumer version of the Oculus Rift has been shipped, marking a milestone for one of the biggest players in the virtual reality space.

The image above was tweeted by Oculus CEO Brendan Iribe along with the following message: "The first Oculus Rift has shipped, deliveries begin Monday 3.28.2016."

Rift becomes the first of the three major VR headsets launching this year to get into consumers' hands. It'll be followed soon after by the HTC Vive, which begins shipping in early April, and PlayStation VR this fall.

This isn't the first version of the Rift to make it into the hands of the public, with Oculus previously having offered development kits through its website. Preorders for the $600 consumer version of the Rift started being accepted in January and quickly sold out. A Rift ordered from Oculus today carries an expected ship date of July 2016.

For a full rundown on everything you need to know about the major VR headsets coming to market this year, check out our comparison guide.