New Oculus Rift App: A Good Sign for the Future of Virtual Sex?

June 8, 2014

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Gamers who like it triple X may be able to breathe a sigh of relief.

Last month, adult entertainment company SugarDVD announced plans to create an app for the virtual reality headset Oculus Rift. Used with gaming consoles like Xbox One and PlayStation 4, the technology will immerse people into the X-rated films of their choosing.

For many this is welcome news. After Facebook’s $2-billion deal to buy Oculus VR Inc. surfaced in March, some worry erupted over how this could mean the end for Oculus Rift as a sex simulator.

Perhaps it’s no surprise folks have been concerned.

The social media platform currently bans pornography. It also has a less than stellar record for removing breastfeeding images, although it changed its community standards last year, explicitly allowing them on the site.

The recent move by SugarDVD shows development is still happening. And in his March 26 statement, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s remained mum on the headset’s future in immersive adult entertainment — giving credence to the adage “no news is good news.”

SugarDVD hopes a demo of the new app will be released in the next couple months.

Yet, adult entertainment is already available on the Oculus Rift.

One notably buzz-worthy app is Chathouse 3D [NSFW]. The multiplayer 3D world lets users have virtual sex with other players and even spy on those who are getting it on. Last year, it nabbed the Venus Award for Best Innovation.

Right now, people interested in buying a new Oculus Rift will have to wait. It’s not yet available for consumer retail and the first Rift developer kit is sold out.

The company is taking pre-orders for the DK2, its latest version for developers. At $350 a pop, Oculus VR Inc. expects to begin shipping it out in August.

Let’s hope that in the meantime Facebook refrains from putting the kibosh on virtual sex innovation before it really gains its footing.

Image source: Sergey Galyonkin

Jenna Owsianik

Jenna Owsianik is a Canadian journalist and sex tech expert. Since 2014 she has been Editor-in-Chief of FutureofSex.net, the world’s leading publication on how technology is changing human sexuality, today and tomorrow.

Jenna is the primary author of the Future of Sex Report (2016).

Her expertise covers state-of-the-art sex technologies and the major fields driving innovations in intimacy: robotics, virtual reality, remote sex (teledildonics), immersive adult entertainment, human augmentation, virtual sex, and sexual health.

A trained journalist with a Masters of Journalism from The University of British Columbia, Jenna’s reporting has appeared on Futurism.com, Al Jazeera English, CTV British Columbia online, CBS Sunday Morning, CBS 60 Minutes, Global News, and CKNW Radio in Canada and the United States.

As a sex tech industry consultant, she is especially passionate about helping companies deliver accessible services and products to people with disabilities and other underserved communities.

Jenna also runs the sites SexforEveryBody.com, a sex-positive, body-positive online magazine that promotes inclusive sex education; and DisabledSexGuide.com, an adult resource on sex, disability, and erotica.

In 2013, Jenna won two Canadian Online Publishing Awards for her work on The Pain Project, a multimedia site on global access to palliative care.

She won second place at the 2011 Awards for Excellence in Health Care Journalism’s Public Health category for her participation in the documentary Freedom From Pain.

Jenna has an Honors BA in Women’s Studies and Feminist Research as well as a French minor from The University of Western Ontario. She spent a year studying at L’Université Lumière Lyon 2 in Lyon, France.