Best Buy Closes Nearly Half of Its Oculus Rift VR Demo Stations

[Megalith]

Things don’t seem to be looking that great for the Oculus brand. Aside from all that nasty lawsuit stuff, it now seems that morale is starting to drop for the Rift. Best Buy, it seems, is shuttering a majority of their pop-ups because nobody touched them for days at a time. The running excuse is that they are being closed due to poor overall store performance, while others claim that software bugs made them too difficult to maintain. Facebook doesn’t seem miffed, however—it seems that they are planning to create their own permanent storefronts to sell and demo VR.

The scaling back of Facebook's first big retail push for VR comes after workers from multiple Best Buy pop-ups told BI that it was common for them to go days without giving a single demonstration. An internal memo seen by BI and sent to affected employees by a third-party contractor said the closings were because of "store performance." 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 US and Canada."

 

[modi123]

Lack of cleaning products to wipe out the eye herpes before I put a set on made it rough for me to want to try it out.

 

[Nukester]

Lack of cleaning products to wipe out the eye herpes before I put a set on made it rough for me to want to try it out.

Definitely a hygene issue with this. No way in hell I would put one on in a store. Also, I still contend that VR is a niche product. The hype will die down on this because it's a wearable. People do not want to put something on their head.

 

[Sonicks]

Lack of cleaning products to wipe out the eye herpes before I put a set on made it rough for me to want to try it out.

I tried it back in the early days and they would actually snap off the foam and attach an entirely new one for each customer. They had a whole stack of them in the cabinet underneath the display next to the PC. I'm not sure if they dropped this later on but they definitely had the hygiene aspect in mind during the initial roll out.

 

[nysmo]

It's failing because there are no good games for VR. Even if some AAA producer threw everything they had at VR, a console/PC game version would always be better. People want games like Final Fantasy, Battlefield, Overwatch, Mario Kart, etc. Games that have complex interactions. VR is simply too limiting. We play games to escape, VR tries to bring escapism back to reality, turns out reality is boring, therefore the games become boring.

Lastly the investment is just not worth it. Mobile all-in-one VR stands a better chance because at least people can feel that their upfront purchase of a cellphone serves a purpose outside of making VR work. Making a full blown PC as a prerequisite to VR does not sit well with the average consumer. When someone see's an Oculus box on the shelf at BB and then realizes that they need to first buy something that costs TWICE as much as the toy they want to play with just to make that toy work they will never do it. Especially when they look through the catalog of content and dont recognize a single thing.

 

[Armenius]

It's failing because there are no good games for VR. Even if some AAA producer threw everything they had at VR, a console/PC game version would always be better. People want games like Final Fantasy, Battlefield, Overwatch, Mario Kart, etc. Games that have complex interactions. VR is simply too limiting. We play games to escape, VR tries to bring escapism back to reality, turns out reality is boring, therefore the games become boring.

Lastly the investment is just not worth it. Mobile all-in-one VR stands a better chance because at least people can feel that their upfront purchase of a cellphone serves a purpose outside of making VR work. Making a full blown PC as a prerequisite to VR does not sit well with the average consumer. When someone see's an Oculus box on the shelf at BB and then realizes that they need to first buy something that costs TWICE as much as the toy they want to play with just to make that toy work they will never do it. Especially when they look through the catalog of content and dont recognize a single thing.

I don't necessarily agree. Having recently tried VR I believe that games do need that extra piece of interaction to make it worth the cost of entry to people. Otherwise, in my opinion, you're just playing games in 3D with head tracking. Something we've had for at least a decade on the PC side of things. I really believe that haptic interfaces is what is needed to take VR to the next level so we can do away with controllers altogether.

Price of entry is a hurdle right now, I agree, but I don't think the long-term investors are concerned about that right now. With how much money that is still being pumped into VR I think that the hardware will become more accessible within the next couple of years, including reducing cost and hardware requirements. Most people buying HMDs right now already have the PC to handle them. I also think comparing the PC VR market to the mobile market is a false dichotomy, as the content being consumed along with your typical user profile are going to be vastly different.

I don't think VR will ever become the default for consuming content, but we will eventually move away from the gimmicks, bite-sized experiences, and lesser known developers to something grander in the near future.

 

[heatlesssun]

Also, I still contend that VR is a niche product. The hype will die down on this because it's a wearable. People do not want to put something on their head.

I think VR is here to stay in various forms. It will get its biggest following with mobile devices because of cost and mobility. Console/PC VR will be much more niche, but a much more loyal group that just really likes the experience. Sure, it'd be great not to have the headset but that's where we are for now and I think enough people can get enjoyment from it even with headsets for a good while. It's just an experience that's like nothing else in technology today and there's just so many applications and improvements to be made.

 

[Sonicks]

It's failing because there are no good games for VR. Even if some AAA producer threw everything they had at VR, a console/PC game version would always be better. People want games like Final Fantasy, Battlefield, Overwatch, Mario Kart, etc. Games that have complex interactions. VR is simply too limiting. We play games to escape, VR tries to bring escapism back to reality, turns out reality is boring, therefore the games become boring.

Lastly the investment is just not worth it. Mobile all-in-one VR stands a better chance because at least people can feel that their upfront purchase of a cellphone serves a purpose outside of making VR work. Making a full blown PC as a prerequisite to VR does not sit well with the average consumer. When someone see's an Oculus box on the shelf at BB and then realizes that they need to first buy something that costs TWICE as much as the toy they want to play with just to make that toy work they will never do it. Especially when they look through the catalog of content and dont recognize a single thing.

It's actually the cost of entry that is causing this.

The Vive is outselling the Rift because people with beefy computers are already willing to spend the dough for the tech. Your average customer at Best Buy will be intrigued by the Rift but once they are aware of the true cost outside of the Rift itself, most average consumers will move on. Trying to sell the Rift at Best Buy was a mistake.

 

[HeadRusch]

So I read the article, then re-read Megaliths commentary, and then to make sure I wasn't as confused as he appears to be, re-read the article again.

Oculus had ~500 kiosks set up to demo Rift and introduce people to VR. They aren't even there to push the technology, according to the article, more to get people excited about VR and what it could mean for them...and of course "oh yeah and also if you like it we have these Oculus Rift setups for $800", let's not be stupid they ARE bankrolling the Kiosks, it ain't philanthropy.
So now post Xmas, when shelves aren't restocked and nobody is buying anything, 200 or so of those Kiosks are folding up, re-routing the traffic to the 300 or so other kiosks which are unaffected.

Theres your article. The morale problem and crappy math (200 out of 500 does not a majority make) are clickbait. It worked for me, tho, so well done.

 

[Ducman69]

Mmmmm, pink eye! What's next, toothbrush testing displays?

 

[Cmdrmonkey]

I don't know how Best Buy keeps any of their stores open in general. Everyone just uses the place as a showroom, then buys on Amazon or Newegg.

Also nobody cares about VR. I'd call it a passing fad like 3D HDTVs or waggle/motion controls, but that would imply people are actually buying VR headsets in large numbers, when they aren't.

 

[thesmokingman]

It's hard to tell which narrative is winning when it comes to VR.

 

[Armenius]

I don't know how Best Buy keeps any of their stores open in general. Everyone just uses the place as a showroom, then buys on Amazon or Newegg.

Also nobody cares about VR. I'd call it a passing fad like 3D HDTVs or waggle/motion controls, but that would imply people are actually buying VR headsets in large numbers, when they aren't.

For things like a TV I actually prefer ordering from a place like Best Buy. That way I just have to worry about returning that bigass item back to the store if there is an issue instead of worrying about shipping it back myself.

 

[Mugato]

I hate to say it, but feels good bro. Anything to do with Zuckerburg failing is music to my ears.

 

[Mugato]

I don't know how Best Buy keeps any of their stores open in general. Everyone just uses the place as a showroom, then buys on Amazon or Newegg.

Also nobody cares about VR. I'd call it a passing fad like 3D HDTVs or waggle/motion controls, but that would imply people are actually buying VR headsets in large numbers, when they aren't.

Dude not true. They price match every major website, so if they have it in stock, why wouldn't you just buy it there? I do. AND I get 5% back in rewards. Seeing as I spend quite a lot there, it adds up quickly plus no waiting.

 

[Lakados]

I went to a Best Buy recently and I wanted to try it, it was there but all the PC's were powered off it was password protected to turn on and I had to spend 20 minutes to track down a sales associate to turn it on for me and by the time it got it up and running the wife and kid wanted to leave.

 

[Youn]

People do not want to put something on their head.

Except glasses, headphones, ear muffs, hats, hairpieces, bunny ears, etc...

 

[nysmo]

I really believe that haptic interfaces is what is needed to take VR to the next level so we can do away with controllers altogether.

You cant do away with controllers though, because controllers offer far more sophisticated control schemes than any haptic device. Thats like saying a fighter plane would be better if you did away with all the buttons. You need those buttons to get the plane to do what you want it to do. I'm about to jump into a game of overwatch where I will play Genji and bounce off the walls, do flips, then ult and kill 5 people from 5 different angles in 3 seconds. There's no possible way to execute something this complex with just your bare hands, let alone have the mental fortitude to actually handle such a visual experience.

 

[Spidey329]

BestBuy really screwed up by not having a "special" area for VR porn.

We all know that technology lives or dies on it's ability to handle pornographic material.

 

[James Robinson]

BestBuy really screwed up by not having a "special" area for VR porn.

We all know that technology lives or dies on it's ability to handle pornographic material.

They could make a killing on vending machines with little packets of hand cream and wet-naps

 

[modi123]

They could make a killing on vending machines with little packets of hand cream and wet-naps

Wet-naps? Hell you must be doing it wrong. I would pay the extra five bucks to rent a mop and a bucket for courtesy clean up.

 

[James Robinson]

Wet-naps? Hell you must be doing it wrong. I would pay the extra five bucks to rent a mop and a bucket for courtesy clean up.

Oh, no, no, no..... the naps and cream are for the demo tech... I just hope their hands aren't cold

 

[Jim Kim]

I went to a Best Buy recently and I wanted to try it, it was there but all the PC's were powered off it was password protected to turn on and I had to spend 20 minutes to track down a sales associate to turn it on for me and by the time it got it up and running the wife and kid wanted to leave.

Sounds like they were really trying to move units. /Sarc
Best Buy, Compusa, Gamestop and Red Delicious.
Three things I don't miss and an apple.

 

[P4B]

last time i tried to get a high end display out of there all i got was confusing gimmick advertising with no real info on what was what. They could of switched the price tags on the top and bottom end displays and no one would ever know unless they took the SN's to some other store. Then they treat everyone like a thief. but then lots of ppl stole cds from them back in the day.. ill never go in a best buy again. Micro center is better!

 

[westrock2000]

It's failing because there are no good games for VR. Even if some AAA producer threw everything they had at VR, a console/PC game version would always be better. People want games like Final Fantasy, Battlefield, Overwatch, Mario Kart, etc. Games that have complex interactions. VR is simply too limiting. We play games to escape, VR tries to bring escapism back to reality, turns out reality is boring, therefore the games become boring.

It would be cool to even have something like World of Warcraft where you are still looking down in 3rd person, but you can move your head around and just look around the playing field. So instead of panning the camera with your mouse, you just look over.

I could see games like Diablo and League Of Legends being played like this.

 

[westrock2000]

Wet-naps? Hell you must be doing it wrong. I would pay the extra five bucks to rent a mop and a bucket for courtesy clean up.

Finally! We can now answer the age old question of "how much the average jizz mopper makes per hour".

 

[SixFootDuo]

I'm definitely a buyer at the $400+ price point all in. I don't want to be nickled and dimed to death having to buy needed extra's or addons. I find this practice absolutely horseshit.

And let me tell you, the older you get, the harder it is for companies to get money out of you. That's why products, shows, music is all geared toward the younger kids, they are still full of hope and dreams and life is a little bit forgiving and easier to live along with spending your money because you have the next 20 years to pay all the crap you buy off.

Get to be in your 40s and your friends start dying around you. No, it happens, seriously and then you become a lot more careful with the shit you buy. Probably helps your older now and you see through all the BS marketing.

/rant off

Yeah, my $400+ dollars is money in the bank as soon as we can get a 3rd or 4th gen VR out there for me to buy.

Back in the late 90's or early 2000's Nvidia had 3D glasses with some of their cards. I bought a pair and it was pretty damn impressive. But I think it would with CRT's and their natural high refresh rate. I forget the one game but it was a lot of fun.

Anyone remember this? 99? 2001 or 2002?

 

[westrock2000]

You think friends dying is bad. Try having kids. That will wreck your 40's.

I'm definitely a buyer at the $400+ price point all in. I don't want to be nickled and dimed to death having to buy needed extra's or addons. I find this practice absolutely horseshit.

And let me tell you, the older you get, the harder it is for companies to get money out of you. That's why products, shows, music is all geared toward the younger kids, they are still full of hope and dreams and life is a little bit forgiving and easier to live along with spending your money because you have the next 20 years to pay all the crap you buy off.

Get to be in your 40s and your friends start dying around you. No, it happens, seriously and then you become a lot more careful with the shit you buy. Probably helps your older now and you see through all the BS marketing.

/rant off

Yeah, my $400+ dollars is money in the bank as soon as we can get a 3rd or 4th gen VR out there for me to buy.

Back in the late 90's or early 2000's Nvidia had 3D glasses with some of their cards. I bought a pair and it was pretty damn impressive. But I think it would with CRT's and their natural high refresh rate. I forget the one game but it was a lot of fun.

Anyone remember this? 99? 2001 or 2002?

 

[Exavior]

I didn't know they even had displays. On the other hand I haven't been in a best buy for almost 2 years so that could be why.

 

[heatlesssun]

Back in the late 90's or early 2000's Nvidia had 3D glasses with some of their cards. I bought a pair and it was pretty damn impressive. But I think it would with CRT's and their natural high refresh rate. I forget the one game but it was a lot of fun.

Anyone remember this? 99? 2001 or 2002?

I believe it was 2008 that nVidia came out with it's 3D implementation: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nvidia_3D_Vision. I've been using the tech since 2010, I just upgraded to the 144 Hz monitors at Christmas because they had DisplayPort and support 3D Vision. I don't use it much for games these days but I do watch a fair amount of 3D BDs with it which is pretty cool I think.

 

[ManofGod]

I don't know how Best Buy keeps any of their stores open in general. Everyone just uses the place as a showroom, then buys on Amazon or Newegg.

Also nobody cares about VR. I'd call it a passing fad like 3D HDTVs or waggle/motion controls, but that would imply people are actually buying VR headsets in large numbers, when they aren't.

Considering the Best Buy price matches Newegg and Amazon, you should rethink your statement. As far as VR goes, I have no interest in it outside of flight simulations and even then, I would get motion sick anyways, no thanks.

 

[nysmo]

It would be cool to even have something like World of Warcraft where you are still looking down in 3rd person, but you can move your head around and just look around the playing field. So instead of panning the camera with your mouse, you just look over.

I could see games like Diablo and League Of Legends being played like this.

Wow is a great example of what I'm talking about. Consider the following UI layout

How on earth are you ever supposed to interact with this, especially during combat? This is pretty tame by wow standards, many people use even more sophisticated layouts. It'd be tantamount to sticking console and pc gamers in the same FPS. One would have such a huge edge that the other couldnt even compete. While it sure sounds fun to roam the worlds of WoW in a VR format, the moment the real game begins you'd be clawing back for your monitor + keyboard + mouse.

 

[Flogger23m]

It's failing because there are no good games for VR. Even if some AAA producer threw everything they had at VR, a console/PC game version would always be better. People want games like Final Fantasy, Battlefield, Overwatch, Mario Kart, etc. Games that have complex interactions. VR is simply too limiting.

You're part right, part wrong. VR works excellent in games where it serves a utility. Flight sims, racing sims - any vehicle simulator. It works (or at least Track IR) great in ArmA. It can be decent if some other first person shooters implemented head movement. I can see it working well in a game like Mirror's Edge. But it won't work good in 3rd person action RPGs for obvious reasons.

And the gimmick games are just that. In short, it is a niche product.

 

[heatlesssun]

And the gimmick games are just that. In short, it is a niche product.

How many things do we all use constantly that were at one time a niche product? I simply don't see how the ability to project anything into 3D space with interaction will simply die off. It may not come to fruition until long after I'm dead and gone, but the fundamental concept of VR isn't going anywhere.

 

[nysmo]

You're part right, part wrong. VR works excellent in games where it serves a utility. Flight sims, racing sims - any vehicle simulator. It works (or at least Track IR) great in ArmA. It can be decent if some other first person shooters implemented head movement. I can see it working well in a game like Mirror's Edge. But it won't work good in 3rd person action RPGs for obvious reasons.

And the gimmick games are just that. In short, it is a niche product.

The problem is the best games suited for VR, racing/flight sims produce nausea for the majority of people. I can ride rollercoasters with the best of them, am a student pilot, have done aerobatics, can do backflips into a swimming pool and all that good stuff. I had to quit Dirt Rally VR within about 2 minutes due to extreme dizziness, and that is a comfy seated cockpit racer. Beyond that was the fact that the game simply looked like shit in VR. I have a beefy PC and had all the details cranked up high, but you couldnt make out any detail on the horizon. Trees, peoples faces, signage, etc, was all just a pixelated hazy blur. There was zero enjoyment in the visuals for me. Once I went back to my 144hz gaming monitor it was pure bliss, I had absolutely no desire to play that game any more in VR.

Other games like RecRoom paintball and such were problematic as well. Anything more than 100 ft or so away from you was very difficult to see, to the point I felt like I was playing some game from the 90's. In fact my favorite VR game to date was Lucky's Tale, because all of the game entities are big, bright and colorful. Nothing was hard to see, things that were hundreds of feet in the distance were still easy to make out yet interesting to look at "over there", and there was no dizziness. Even the VR aspect was somewhat practical as it enabled me to glance in the distance and plan my strat for completing the mission. But the game was mindlessly simple, literally just jump and move. This was a more simple platformer than Mario 64. This will never be able to go mainstream with the current trend of platformers and those to come.

 

[kandrey89]

Because I really, really want to put on blind folds in a store and spin around playing a game, because no one is going to brush past me taking my wallet or punching me in the head.
It's like the open urinal in Delores Park in San Francisco, a wall with drainage and a sign that says you can pee on it, despite the crowded city buses passing by you behind the wall just 10-15 feet away.

 

[polonyc2]

VR is dying faster then 3D...sad

 

[cptnjarhead]

Cost is the main factor. With all the cheap mobile alternatives... its hard to justify buying a high end HMD, if push came to shove, i would probably buy a PS4/VR because it seems like the best value atm. Dont get me wrong, if i had the extra cash i would drop 2-3 grand on a complete PC/VR system, but that aint gonna happen unless my wife somehow gets hacked by the Russian or i win the lottery. That being said, mobile tech is growing so fast, VR/AR is definitely here to stay.

 

[kju1]

Definitely a hygene issue with this. No way in hell I would put one on in a store. Also, I still contend that VR is a niche product. The hype will die down on this because it's a wearable. People do not want to put something on their head.

I agree, just not enough merit to using it yet to deal with the giant headset.

 

[zkostik]

Lack of cleaning products to wipe out the eye herpes before I put a set on made it rough for me to want to try it out.

In my local store they cleaned it every time before and after use. The person responsible for demo wouldn't let you touch it before cleaning it first, same was the deal with PS4 VR. I think the main factor is the cost and necessity of a relatively high end computer which is well outside most people's budget. Second was likely the fear of new or thinking it's weird. That's the feeling I got when I tested one out. For now it's far from mainstream and is a very limited use and expensive gadget. I don't think it will be a fad like 3D screens but if cost doesn't go down, it may go the way of firewire due to low adoption resulting from high cost.