Oculus VR launched the Kickstarter campaign for the Oculus Rift development kit in 2012.
Palmer Luckey founded Oculus VR after building early head-mounted-display prototypes. The company’s Kickstarter campaign began in August 2012 and sought funding for development kits intended for software developers and enthusiasts. It raised substantially more than its initial goal and helped renew public interest in consumer virtual reality.
The campaign did not offer the final retail Oculus Rift. Instead, it supported development hardware, including the Oculus Rift Development Kit 1, which used a smartphone-derived display and motion sensors. Developers began creating games and experiments before the commercial headset market had fully returned.
Oculus VR was acquired by Facebook in 2014 for approximately 2 billion dollars. Facebook later renamed itself Meta, and the Oculus brand was gradually replaced by Meta branding. The Kickstarter campaign therefore belongs to Oculus VR, not Facebook or Meta, even though the acquisition followed soon afterward.