The Oculus Rift was sensational when it started taking pre-orders ahead of the HTC Vive. Now, Oculus has informed a lot of their pre-order customers that there will be some delays with their VR unit and it will not be able to make it on time.

Many soon-to-be owners of the Oculus Rift were about to jump ship to the Vive when no updates were being released from the U.S.-based VR headset maker. Many had been excited to spend the past weekend doing virtual reality activities.

Brendan Iribe, Oculus CEO, posted the unfortunate news via Twitter. "First set of Rifts are going out slower than we orig estimated, so we're giving free shipping for all pre-orders, including international."

He went on to add, "If you ordered between Jan and end of day April 1 Pacific Time time, your shipping is free!"

Many customers do appreciate Iribe's post giving updates on their Rift pre-orders. Many also aired their sentiments on the same post, when the VR company did not say anything last week.

Customers who were scheduled to receive their VR units this March will be receiving them around mid-April. An email will also be coming from Oculus about the free shipping.

KitGuru added that customers who were expecting a March delivery did receive an email stating delayed shipping news and the "unexpected component shortage" that the company experienced. The report added that the order status will be updated by Oculus come April 12.

Last March 26, Palmer Luckey, the man behind Oculus, personally delivered the first Oculus Rift to Ross Martin in Alaska.

VentureBeat reported earlier that pre-orders have already depleted the initial batch of the Rift until June and interested customers can pre-order again in July. It added that analysts can see that the Rift can easily reach 500,000 shipped units over the next year and may even go up to 2 million sold units.

The Oculus Rift is currently being offered for US$599, plus tax and shipping and will also come with sensors, remote, cables, Xbox One controller and "Lucky's Tale."