It took a little while, but the Rift S was no longer available from the Oculus website and disappeared without a direct successor to the PC-only VR headset. That role was taken over by Quest 2, a standalone headset (with built-in hardware) that could also be connected to a PC.

It was really only a matter of time before Facebook announced in April of this year that it would no longer be sending the Rift S to retail stores. Facebook told UploadVR at the time, "The Rift S is still available in select channels around the world, but as we announced last year, we plan to end sales of the Rift S in 2021." 'Generally speaking, once a channel's inventory sells out, it will never be replenished.'

The Wayback Machine shows that the Rift S was no longer available on Oculus' site sometime in May; Oculus still maintains a Rift S product page, but if you visit the "Compare" section, the "Buy Now" button is Quest 2 only.

I have mixed feelings about this. In all reality, Quest 2 is the best VR headset for most people, offering a higher-resolution display, faster refresh rates, and greater flexibility compared to the Rift S. However, the Quest 2 requires a Facebook login.

This is a deal killer for some, and it didn't help that Facebook recently began testing ads in Oculus games. Resolution Games, the developer of the first game to incorporate ads (Blaston), backed out of the program after a review bombing campaign resulting from in-game ads.

Interestingly, Quest 2 had surpassed the Rift S as the most popular headset on Steam in March. However, a look at the current statistics shows that the Rift S has regained the top spot, albeit by less than one point. Still, at this point, the Rift S is the most widely used headset for PC VR games on Steam.

If we were hoping for a direct successor to the Rift S, unfortunately it doesn't seem likely. Reacting to the news that Facebook is moving on from the Rift S, Palmer Luckey, who left Facebook in 2017, said on Twitter that the Rift 2 project was cancelled "just before it went into production, then cancelled again in favor of a lower-spec Lenovo rebadge ." he stated.

In a sense, it was the end of an era: the Rift S would replace the original Rift, which had played a major role in popularizing VR through a highly successful crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter. A few years later, Facebook acquired Oculus for $2 billion.

What does the future of VR look like?Andrew Bosworth, vice president of Facebook Reality Labs, said a few months ago that Quest 3 is not in development right now. It may happen someday, but it will not happen before Quest Pro.

"For those interested, Quest 2 will be on the market for a while, maybe a long while. [The Rift S will be retired and the Quest 2 will carry the torch for Oculus' VR headset for the foreseeable future.