Oculus' first big consumer push for its virtual reality technology will come at the end of this year with the next iteration of the Samsung Gear VR for mobile, the company's CTO John Carmack said at Game Developers Conference on Wednesday.
"The official formal strategy is that Oculus goes big, full consumer on Samsung's next release cycle," Carmack said.
The Gear VR is currently available as an "Innovator's Edition," Carmack noted, technically for sale to the public but with a caveat that it is intended for early adopters and those who don't mind an incomplete experience.
Carmack said that he's happy with the Gear VR hardware and the Samsung phones that it requires to run---it's just the Oculus software and the digital games store that need to be polished up and filled with content before they move forward with a launch.
Developers should expect the Gear VR store to be more like Apple's walled garden versus Android's Wild West. "It is a reviewed store," Carmack said. "We have already rejected some apps."
Earlier this week, the Gear VR store added paid apps to its library. And Oculus showed its new version of the Gear VR, which works with Samsung's new Galaxy S6 phones. This will be available soon, but still as an "Innovator's Edition."
But it's the third iteration of Gear VR, which Carmack says will work with the as-yet-unannounced new phones that Samsung will release at the end of 2015, that Oculus will be trying to sell to anyone and everyone who wants to get in on virtual reality.
"It is going to be real," Carmack said. "There are going to be customers."
