The founder of Oculus sends free repair kits for Rift helmets

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Palmer Luckey, a former Facebook employee and co-founder of Oculus, is helping to repair VR headsets for free.

Long-time users of Facebook's Oculus headset have complained of the loss of sound in one of the headphones or both.

Although he left the company in 2017, Mr. Luckey is proposing to ship his custom repair kit to players who fail to have their helmet replaced by Oculus.

He says the kit is designed to make it easier for the average PC player to repair the virtual reality headset.

Facebook acquired Oculus VR in 2014 for an amount reported at $ 2 billion (£ 1.55 billion). Its Oculus Rift helmets, priced at £ 349 and on sale in 2016, offer gamers an immersive gaming experience.

Mr. Luckey wrote in a blog post that, although Oculus customer service offered to replace the warranty Rifts, the loss of sound was more likely to affect users "well outside" the warranty period. .

And players who are not eligible for an Oculus headphone replacement can now send their correspondence to Mr. Luckey to receive a free Rift Repair One (RR1) kit.

"People who have been using their headset for years tend to be among the most engaged and helpful users who spend tons of money on the content ecosystem," Luckey said.

"I feel bad for people who have bought a rift at my house and can no longer use it properly."

The 26-year-old said that the RR1 kit took him three hours to build, but "a little longer" to test on broken helmets, that he had started buying from community members. Last summer.

The kit could also be used as a third-party headphone adapter, he added, but he did not intend to distribute it for this purpose.