[UPDATE #2] Oculus sent out an email to Rift customers that said because of the delays it’ll cover “shipping and handling costs for all orders placed through today.” Oculus CEO Brendan Iribe confirmed the screenshot and replied on Reddit with the following comment:

“Correct. We apologize for not updating you earlier. The first few batches are going out slower than we estimated, so we’re giving free shipping for all pre-orders, including international.”

[UPDATE] Oculus customers have reported that the shipping fee on their Rift order has been significantly reduced. We’ve contacted Oculus for further comment and will report back when we hear more.

The original story follows:

The Oculus Rift released this week, but it seems that many people who preordered the virtual reality headset have no idea when theirs will ship. Customers have been asking Oculus founder Palmer Luckey to let them know what’s happening, and now he’s addressed their pleas after one user suggested that he wasn’t allowed to comment on the supposed issues because of higher-ups.

“Don’t shunt blame to other people, this is my call,” he said in a comment on Reddit. “I am not going to wax poetic about this, since I have done so in the past, but bottom-line: I won’t give in-depth updates on any situation without knowing it is solid, true, and finalized. Until I can do so, the best I can do is remind people that I will get them information as quickly as I can.”

“On the rare occasions when things still change, even when they change for reasons out of my control, I get crucified anyway,” Luckey continued. “Sometimes that means updates have to wait until things get locked down, and sometimes that means waiting a little longer to give everyone good info.”

When criticized for the lack of a “concise and quick” response, Luckey said “the two are completely opposed” and that “concise and accurate information is rarely the fastest or first, especially when talking about a situation with so many constantly changing variable.”

The Oculus subreddit’s overall tone seems to be an angry one, and when someone asked people to imagine how the subreddit would look if thousands of people had Rifts “instead of the handful now,” Luckey responded with the following:

“Not very different, apparently, because there are already many thousands of Rifts out there even at this early point, with more arriving as we speak. Remember that this sub is a tiny minority of the overall VR market–70k [subscribers] is not even an accurate measure, considering how many subs are from old accounts or lurkers with no headset. The vast majority of people don’t care about posting pictures or reviews of their new toy to an internet enthusiast group.”

Another user accused Luckey of writing the Oculus community off, which he replied to by saying his “involvement [in the subreddit] should make [it] obvious” that he’s not doing that.

“I don’t think you are interpreting my comment fairly–I never said that everyone who matters is fine, I just pointed out that thousands of units in the wild don’t translate into a significant difference in the direction of this subreddit, and that his perception of only a handful of Rifts being out there (which he apprently got from this sub) is inaccurate,” Luckey added.

No official comment has been given on the state of Oculus Rift shipments at this time. We’ve contacted Oculus PR and will keep you updated as more information becomes available.

For the time being, you can check out our review and everything else you need to know about the Oculus Rift right here.

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