Virtuix VR Treadmill Finally Coming to Market in September

An enormous day for VR Motion peripherals. An hour after Roto VR announced its $799 gaming swivel chair, Virtuix finally revealed a September 10 release date for its Omni One VR treadmill. I say “finally” because this $2,595 (plus shipping) system has been in the works for greater than a decade.

In fact, the last story we wrote concerning the system was titled, “A Decade Later, This VR Treadmill Is Finally Ready to Ship.” That was on April 3 of last 12 months. Sometimes, it appears like technology is moving impossibly fast. Other times, it’s agonizingly slow. Hardware startups often fall into the latter camp.

Over the last decade or more of constructing, Virtuoso has garnered lots of attention. Locomotion continues to be a largely unsolved problem in VR. Tricking the brain into moving while sitting or standing perfectly still is a lower than ideal experience; it may well also cause unlucky unwanted effects, like nausea.

Virtuix’s timeline has coincided with the rise of interest in mixed reality, led by Oculus/Meta, HTC, and now Apple, amongst others. The startup says it has raised a complete of $40 million through a mix of enterprise capital and individual investment. The Omni One also got its biggest exposure yet, serving as a model for the same system in Steven Spielberg’s adaptation of Ready Player One.

The Omni One is a deceptively easy system. Rather than counting on a mechanical treadmill, it really works passively. The user puts on special footwear and moves forward, effectively sliding into place in a concave saucer.

“With the official launch date now set for September 10, we can’t wait to welcome players to the Omni One community,” CEO Jan Goetgeluk said in an announcement. “The overwhelmingly positive response from our beta users has fueled our excitement, and we can’t wait to launch Omni One and transform the gaming experience for players of all ages.”

Virtuix says it has sold 3,000 units of the Model One throughout the pre-sale period.