Facebook's Oculus Virtual Reality Headset Planned For Early 2016

Oculus VR, which Facebook Inc FB bought for $2 billion in 2014, announced Wednesday that it would release its commercially-available Rift headset in Q1 2016. The move confirms that the headset will not be available for Christmas 2015.

Oculus Vice President of Product, Nate Mitchell, tweeted the announcement early Wednesday: "Extremely excited to announce that the Oculus Rift will be shipping Q1 2016! We can't wait to get it in your hands."

Previously, the Rift was only available to developers that were interested in creating experiences in virtual reality. The Rift Developer Kit, first launched on Kickstarter, raised more than $2.4 million from 9,522 backers.

Mark Zuckerberg has previously called Oculus a "long-term bet on the future of computing," noting that virtual reality is that opportunity that comes along every 10 to 15 years. However, he did warn that Oculus would need to do 50 to 100 million units before the company would be a "meaningful" computing platform. "I do think it's going to take a bunch of years to get there," he added.

Year-to-date, Facebook has declined 0.6 percent after gaining nearly 41 percent last year. The stock is down 10 percent from its highs above $86.

In pre-market trading, Facebook was 0.5 percent higher, last at $77.96.