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Facebook Is Closing 200 of Its 500 VR Demo Stations At Best Buy Stores Across US (businessinsider.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the out-with-the-old-in-with-the-new dept.

According to Business Insider, "Facebook is closing around 200 of its 500 Oculus Rift virtual-reality demo stations at Best Buy locations across the U.S." The reason has to do with "store performance," as multiple Best Buy pop-ups told Business Insider that "it was common for them to go days without giving a single demonstration." From their report: Oculus spokeswoman Andrea Schubert confirmed the closings and said they were due to "seasonal changes." "We're making some seasonal changes and prioritizing demos at hundreds of Best Buy locations in larger markets," she said. "You can still request Rift demos at hundreds of Best Buy stores in the U.S. and Canada." "We still believe the best way to learn about VR is through a live demo," she continued. "We're going to find opportunities to do regular events and pop ups in retail locations and local communities throughout the year." Best Buy spokeswoman Carly Charlson said stores that no longer offer demos will continue to sell the Oculus Rift headset and accompanying touch controllers, which cost $600 and $200 respectively. Multiple "Oculus Ambassador" workers BI spoke with said that, at most, they would sell a few Oculus headsets per week during the holiday season, and that foot traffic to their pop-ups decreased drastically after Christmas. "There'd be some days where I wouldn't give a demo at all because people didn't want to," said one worker at a Best Buy in Texas who asked to remain anonymous. Another worker from California said that Oculus software bugs would often render his demo headsets unusable.

11 of 128 comments (clear)

  1. Real answer... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    ... the real reason is that VR is dead. Normal people get sick after about 15 minutes of using VR. You cannot solve that problem. It is physiological. Facebook wasted billions.

    1. Re:Real answer... by youngone · · Score: 2, Insightful
      Yup, VR is pointless and dead.

      Some PlayStation people were demoing their take on VR at a local Mall before Christmas, and they really did it well, with a huge trailer and lots of music.

      The real attraction was the fact that the people doing the demos were all hot young girls with big boobs and tight tee shirts. It was very busy, but I don't suppose they sold a single unit.

    2. Re:Real answer... by s.petry · · Score: 3, Insightful

      What's old is new again. Wasn't this discovered in the early 90's?

      late 70s and early 80s actually. Military technology has had VR for a very long time, though we used to call it "Stereo". DOD specifications stated that Stereo should not be used for more than 3-6 hours per week and we used to have to keep log books for Engineers and Visitors to ensure they did not go over the maximum. I built a full power wall theater with VR, 4 projectors and full motion tracking, and a portable version of the same hardware with manually movable walls. Power walls for people that don't know can operate at either 3 displays flat for 8'X30', various angles on the outer walls up to a 90degree enclosed cave with the 4th projector on the floor at 8'x8'. Hardware was SGI Onyx with Infinite Reality graphics and a Linux cluster of 5 nodes running 2 each NVidia Quadro FX custom cards. Software varied from protected to commercial. The best was commercial CEI Ensight for display control.

      There is a lot that can help with reducing depth and eye position to remove strain, but that tends to reduce the effects of VR where getting a majority of people "comfortable" resulted in no depth.

      --

      -The wise argue that there are few absolutes, the fool argues that there are no probabilities.

    3. Re:Real answer... by arth1 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      What it is not, is sickness inducing. The technology, as it is now, does not cause nausea.

      When the inner ear tells one thing and vision tells another, queasiness is a common result. It doesn't matter how good the resolution is or how fast it updates.

      We can deal with stationary monitors and movie screens much better, because then the vision says one thing and the inner ear says nothing. When the inner ear doesn't give feedback, there's seldom problem. But when the inner ear says you've moved, but different from what your eyes tell you, you get motion sickness.

      Which is why children get car sick. Their inner ear tells them that they move sideways for each curve, but their eyes see a stationary seat back.

    4. Re:Real answer... by gravewax · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Many things sell well initially with the hype and marketing before crashing back to reality (pun intended). 3D TV's anyone? VR just isn't ready yet, still to many issues, poor resolution and high cost. Add in the fact that average playtime for VR is less than 15 mins and you have a recipe for an industry teetering on the edge, maybe they can recover but it is not a healthy looking tech at this point.

    5. Re:Real answer... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Everything you just argued 100% confirms that VR is just not ready yet. if you need to think about eating prior to use, perfect room for it and the perfect equipment then it aint fucking ready. the cost and poor resolution is just the cherry on the top. Also the fact that you can play for 2 hours straight doesn't negate the vast majority of people who will be either nauseated or have headaches (it isn't just nauseating) from the experience. I am sure it will come again but unless current tech massively evolves in the next year or so this will be chalked up to another passing FAD.

  2. Good by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Fuck Facebook, fuck Palmer Luckey, and fuck Oculus.

  3. Re:Best Buy is still a thing? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I shop at Best Buy when I want an extremely limited selection at high prices.

  4. VR is the new 3D TV by OneHundredAndTen · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Another ridiculously hyped technology that has yet to deliver.

  5. Re:Best Buy is still a thing? by Motherfucking+Shit · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The only reason to go into a Best Buy is... um...

    Demoing an item before ordering it from Amazon, or as lgw said, when you need a NIC/adapter/etc right now. I'm not sure how good they are for the second purpose anymore. Few months ago I needed a foot of cat5, all Best Buy had was 25+ foot lengths at a stupid price while a guy stood there asking if I wanted to see wireless routers instead. I ended up driving down the street to Walmart and picked up a 3 foot patch cable.

    --
    "BSD: Free as in speech. Linux: Free as in beer. Windows 10: Free as in herpes." --Man On Pink Corner in #52607549.
  6. Re:None of this should be surprising by erktrek · · Score: 3, Insightful

    While VR is very cool I just have a hard time seeing how it will appeal to the general public. Special niche markets (gaming,medical, military, architectural) maybe but not for everyone. AR/Mixed Reality on the other hand seems to be where it's at if they can get the "field of view" issues worked out. I can see so much more potential with AR - especially networked AR but I may lack the imagination necessary to truly appreciate VR's mass appeal.