Oculus began accepting pre-orders for their Rift virtual reality headsets back in January, but not everyone who ordered early has their device yet. Those customers will probably be disappointed to hear that Oculus is going ahead with its retail strategy. Some devices will be available for retail sale at Microsoft stores and from Amazon on Friday, May 6, and available for special demos and for sale at a few Best Buy locations on Saturday, May 7.

Yes, that’s before all of the pre-orders have been fulfilled. This is different from the Pebble Smartwatch or the Coolest supplying Best Buy or Amazon respectively before all of their Kickstarter backers had received their rewards, since at least Oculus doesn’t charge customers’ payment cards until the Rift ships.

In their blog announcement about the retail events, Facebook-owned Oculus explains that pre-order customers can purchase the device at retail, but still get the free game and other benefits promised to those early customers.

“We know that many pre-order customers are still waiting for their Rifts, so we’re offering those customers a chance to purchase Rift from retail instead,” the post explains, “while keeping their pre-order benefits, like the EVE: Valkyrie Founder’s Pack and priority status for Touch pre-orders.”

Does “priority status” mean that customers can maybe hope that they’ll get to buy the Touch controllers before they hit Best Buy?

The supply of devices is still relatively low, and they will only be available at 48 Best Buy stores in the United States at first. You can check whether there’s a demonstration available near you: my closest one is at least a three-hour drive away, for example.

Oculus to frustrated preorder customers: Go get a Rift at Best Buy this weekend [VentureBeat]
Oculus Rift Retail Experience Kicks Off at Best Buy Locations May 7 [Oculus]

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