The first commercial virtual-reality headset released by Oculus was Oculus Rift.
The consumer Oculus Rift became available on March 28, 2016, after several development kits and prototype demonstrations. It was designed primarily for use with a Windows gaming computer, which rendered the virtual scene and sent images to the headset. The system used an external sensor for positional tracking in its original consumer configuration.
Oculus Rift helped establish modern consumer VR by combining stereoscopic displays, head tracking, and low-latency rendering in a product aimed at home users. Its launch followed a successful 2012 Kickstarter campaign for an earlier development version, but the commercial product was substantially refined.
The name is sometimes used loosely for the entire Oculus headset family. Rift specifically refers to Oculus’s PC-connected line. Oculus later released standalone products such as Oculus Go and Oculus Quest, which did not require the same kind of gaming PC connection.