Oculus won't show any VR input solutions at GDC next week, founder Palmer Luckey has confirmed. Despite – or perhaps due to – the company's recent acquisition of hand tracking studio Nimble VR, Oculus would prefer to keep expectations in check.
Responding to a query on the Oculus Subreddit about a possible VR input demonstration at GDC, Luckey warned not to "get too hyped on the possibility".
"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," he wrote.
"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."
He continued: "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."
Despite what will no doubt be a substantial wait before Oculus demonstrate their input work, the company's recent acquisition of Nimble VR is promising. Using its experience with Kinect, the company has a working prototype offering a 110 degree field of view for capturing hand movements. You can see it in action here.
Cheers, Shacknews.
