Oculus VR is a crucial player in the virtual gaming industry which explains why many developers look forward to getting their hands on the company's new offering, the second development kit for the Oculus Rift.
Unfortunately, Chinese developers will no longer be able to preorder the headset and many of those who have preordered earlier already had their orders cancelled as Oculus is halting the sales of the Oculus Rift development kit (DK2) in China.
Oculus's decision to cancel the preorders and shipments in China was prompted by extreme reseller purchases that the company fears would prevent legitimate developers from obtaining the device. Given that there are limited supplies of the Rift DK2, it appears that Oculus wants to ensure that those who manage to obtain the stocks are developers who will create content for the device and not enterprising sellers whose intention is to resell the products for profit in online sites such as Taobao and eBay.
"Yes, it is a bummer that we've had to suspend sales in China due to extreme reseller purchases," Oculus VR Customer Service lead Kevin Crawford replied to the post of a user on Reddit who complained that Oculus cancelled many orders in China without giving any reasons and apologies. "We need to make sure that we are doing what we can to make sure that resellers that are looking to flip our product for a profit are not taking stock away from legitimate developer purchases globally."
Oculus started to presell the Rift DK2 in March for $350 and had 25,000 Rift DK2 preorders by mid-April apparently because of huge and growing interest on virtual gaming worldwide. Andres Hernandez, the community manager of the California-based company, said that some 450,000 pre-orders were made for the Rift DK2s, which will be shipped starting this month with the first batch of the shipment expected to arrive to customers starting the week of July 14.
For dismayed Chinese developers, Crawford said that the Oculus ban in China is not permanent and that the company is looking for alternative ways to ensure that legitimate Chinese developers will be able to obtain the development kit. He likewise emphasized that the product is intended for developers who make content for the device and not for the regular user. He advised enthusiasts to wait for the version that is targeted for consumers, which is still in development, assuring that the wait will be worth it.
