Oculus Rift customers see pre-orders pushed back as far as August

The troubled launch of the Oculus Rift VR headset shows no sign of improving.

Polygon reports that a number of customers have now been informed that their pre-orders have been pushed back significantly, in some cases to as far away as June – that’s three months after the headset’s official release. These people have already paid for the device, too.

New customers are also now being told that they won’t receive their headsets until August – that’s a four month wait.

Kickstarter backers who are still waiting have been told that their order is not affected by the delay as it is being sourced from a different allocation.

Oculus last week said that component shortages were to blame for the problems.

We know you’re anxious to receive your Oculus Rift and apologise for not updating your order status sooner,” the company told customers. We’ve been working through an unexpected component shortage, and unfortunately, that issue has impacted the original shipping estimates for some early customers.

We’re working hard to get up-to-date ship windows. Although many Rifts will be arriving on schedule and in line with original estimates, we’ll be covering shipping and handling costs for all orders placed through today. We’re shipping Rifts everyday.”

HTC Vive, meanwhile, appears to be more on track. Despite the payment problems that have blighted its launch in Europe, Vive boss Daniel O’Brien has said that all customers who have been told they will get their headset in April will do so.