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Oculus Rift CV1 (2016): the consumer Rift launch

Short answer: Oculus Rift CV1 was the first commercial Rift headset, released to consumers on March 28, 2016 after January pre-orders. It was a wired, PC-powered headset that launched with an external tracking sensor, Xbox One controller and Oculus Remote; Oculus Touch arrived separately in December 2016. Oculus later said Rift S would replace the original Rift. Last checked October 11, 2026.

Looking for hardware specifications? Review the verified Oculus Rift CV1 hardware specifications and PC requirements, including display panels, optics, tracking sensors, and system ports.

What “CV1” means

“CV1” (Consumer Version 1) is the common retrospective name for the 2016 retail Rift. This page is about that consumer model, not the earlier DK1 or DK2 development kits: Meta’s retrospective describes those as pre-release development hardware and describes Rift as the consumer launch. Meta’s five-year Rift history also identifies Rift as a $599 headset released in March 2016.

Timeline: from pre-order to replacement

  1. January 6, 2016 — pre-orders. Oculus opened Rift pre-orders at $599 and announced first shipments to 20 countries and regions starting March 28. The announced box included the headset, built-in headphones and microphone, one sensor, an Xbox One controller and Oculus Remote. Oculus’s pre-order announcement
  2. March 28, 2016 — consumer shipping. This is the date Oculus announced for first shipments; later technical records also list March 28 as the release date. It is distinct from the 2013 and 2014 development-kit era. Oculus’s dated launch announcement VRcompare’s CV1 record
  3. December 2016 — Oculus Touch. Touch did not ship in the original launch box. Meta says the motion controllers followed Rift nine months later, in December 2016; by the following summer, Rift and Touch were permanently bundled. Meta’s Rift and Touch timeline
  4. March 20, 2019 — Rift S announced. Oculus explicitly described Rift S as replacing the original Rift, with higher resolution, improved optics and inside-out tracking. That is the clearest official end-of-line context for CV1; this page does not infer a precise CV1 manufacturing stop from it. Oculus’s Rift S announcement

Hardware and input ecosystem

CV1 was PC-powered and used outside-in tracking: the headset connected by HDMI and USB, while an external Oculus sensor tracked the headset and controllers. The launch package used a conventional Xbox One gamepad and a small Oculus Remote for navigation and media; Oculus’s own box list confirms those inputs and the sensor. Oculus’s launch package description VRcompare’s technical record

Oculus Touch was a separate first-generation motion-controller product rather than a CV1 launch-day inclusion. Meta describes Touch as the change from a gamepad to tracked hand controllers, with hand presence and capacitive input; the official retrospective dates its launch to December 2016 and says it was later bundled with Rift. Meta on Touch’s launch and role

CV1 referenceVerified detail
DisplayTwo AMOLED panels, 1080 × 1200 per eye, 90 Hz
Tracking6DoF outside-in tracking with two Oculus sensors listed in the technical record; the original launch box included one sensor
ConnectionPC-powered; HDMI 1.3 video and USB 3.0 are listed
ControllersXbox One controller and Oculus Remote at launch; first-generation Oculus Touch sold separately later

The table separates the launch package from later full-tracking configurations: one sensor was listed in the original box, while the technical record lists two sensors for the complete outside-in setup.

PC requirement

Rift was not a standalone headset. Oculus’s recommended “full Rift experience” specification called for a GTX 970 or AMD R9 290-equivalent GPU, Intel i5-4590-equivalent processor, at least 8 GB of RAM, compatible HDMI 1.3 output, two USB 3.0 ports and Windows 7 SP1 or newer. The January 2016 launch announcement updated the I/O list to three USB 3.0 ports plus one USB 2.0 port. These are historical recommended specifications, not a claim about modern compatibility. Oculus’s 2015 recommended specification Oculus’s January 2016 launch specification

End of the CV1 line

The strongest verifiable product-line statement is Oculus’s March 2019 announcement: “Rift S replaces the original Rift.” Rift S retained the Rift PC platform while changing the display, optics and tracking approach. That establishes the successor relationship without asserting an unsupported exact date for the final CV1 unit or software-support cutoff. Official Rift S announcement

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