In March 2015 Roto VR launched a Kickstarter crowd-funding campaign for its virtual reality (VR) focused rotating chair, aiming to aid immersion for players. Since then the design has gone through several iterations and in May this year pre-orders opened. At the time a July launch date was announced which subsequently slipped, but today the company has announced that the product will begin shipping to customers worldwide in January 2017.
Roto VR is a fully motorised chair that can spin and move inconjunction with whatever the player is viewing. Designed to work with all the major head-mounted displays (HMDs), such as PlayStation VR, Oculus Rift, HTC Vive and Samsung Gear VR, a small device stored in the armrest is removed and clipped onto a headsets strap, enabling the chair to move when users turn their heads. It’ll also spin when required through gameplay input.
Currently Roto VR is offering a big pre-order discount for consumers with $200 USD knocked off the regular price until 5th, November 2016. This drops the price down from $699.00 to $499.99 on the website. There’s also several accessories to enhance the Roto VR, including the Advanced Cable Magazine for Oculus, PSVR & HTC, currently down from $129.99 to $99.99; Double Rumble Roto VR Simulator Pack for $149.99 and the Roto VR Table down from $89.99 to $49.99.
This announcement also unveils a new accessory, the Roto Racing Rack at $99.99. This will allow die-hard racing fans who own steering wheel pedals to combine them with the system.
“We’re proud to finally unveil the pre-production model of the Roto VR chair today! Imagine having a VR Simulator Chair or VR Arcade Chair in your own home,” said Elliot Myers, CEO and creator of Roto VR. “It’s been a fantastic journey bringing Roto to life, we’re so excited to find out what developers and gamers think of our pre-production model, we invite all those interested in the VR platform to come down and try it from themselves at the VR/AR event in London on 19th and 20th October.”
Checkout the new trailer from Roto VR, and for all the latest news on the company, keep reading VRFocus.