Palmer Derails GDC Input Hype Train

[Tbone]

With GDC right around the corner, there was a lot of speculation that we might finally see an input solution prototype from Oculus. After all, Oculus is the first to admit that shipping a consumer headset with some sort of controller is not a smart move.

Recently on Reddit, however, Palmer seems to have killed that speculation:

Don't get too hyped on the possibility of seeing anything at GDC.  VR input is hard - in some ways, tracking hands well enough to maintain a sense of proprioceptive presence is even more technically challenging than getting perfect head tracking.

We will show something if and when we get it working well, but we have to avoid showing off prototypes that are not on a clear path to being shipped at the same or higher quality level.  Throwing together very expensive or impossible to manufacture prototypes for internal R&D is one thing, using them to publicly set expectations around the near future is another.

Not naming anything specific here, but the history of technology is littered with the corpses of companies that overpromised and underdelivered by shipping real products with real limitations that were glossed over in promotional materials.  Oculus can't afford to do that.

[likwidtek]

Love the communication.  Good stuff.