Mark Zuckerberg wants the Oculus Rift to be as affordable as possible

Oculus wants to take virtual reality mainstream, but its executives are fully cognizant of the fact that nothing will happen overnight. During an interview with Ars Technica, CEO Brendan Iribe said he envisions the company’s first consumer product selling “just north of 1 million units.” Out of the gate, “it’s not going to be a console-scale market,” Iribe admitted. “It always could be, but that’s not the goal.” Oculus’ initial goal is to “set expectations low, get the enthusiasts and early adopters to get into the space,” and help push developers to create memorable experiences that you simply can’t find elsewhere.

With a recent high-profile buyout to the tune of $2 billion, you might think Facebook and Oculus are expecting the forthcoming release of the first consumer-targeted Rift VR headset to be an immediate, multimillion-selling, console-level success. But in an E3 interview with Ars Technica, Oculus CEO Brendan Iribe scaled back expectations, saying that he’s conservatively hoping for just “north of a million units [in sales]” over the life of the first consumer version of the Oculus Rift.” “It’s not going to be a console-scale market,” Iribe continued, regarding that first consumer unit, which still doesn’t have an official price or release window. “It always could be, but that’s not the goal. The goal is to set expectations low, get the enthusiasts and early adopters to get into the space, get their feedback, get developers making really great content…” It’s only after that first consumer version has been out for a year or two that Oculus will be ready to release its second consumer version, Iribe says. That’s when he sees VR and the Rift really starting to reach their full potential, market-wise. “That’s when we’ll get these incredible, holy grail [games], the killer app for VR,” he said. “And that’s when we think the scale will really goal, and hopefully you’ll get many millions of people into VR, playing great games and other stuff.”