Sometime in the near future gamers will be playing Xbox One Games on Oculus’s virtual reality headset after Microsoft and Facebook struck a deal on Thursday. The partnership was announced by Brendan Iribe, the Oculus VR CEO, at an event in San Francisco. Iribe told attendees that when the headset becomes available to the public it will be bundled with the wireless Xbox One gamepad that was recently revealed by Redmond. Games, such as Halo, Forza, Sunset Overdrive, will be streamed through Wi-Fi to machines running Windows 10, and to the Oculus Rift headset. Multi-players will also be able to get in on the act through Xbox Live.

Talking of the deal Xbox chief Phil Spencer said that Xbox was thrilled to be working with Oculus, adding that, “Their groundbreaking work in virtual reality is inspiring, and the Oculus Rift delivers a truly next-generation VR experience. We at Xbox are passionate about giving gamers the opportunity to play when and where they want. I can’t wait to see the incredible games created for the Rift, and we are proud to be part of the experience.”

In an interview with Major Nelson, CVP of Next Gen Experiences, Kudo Tsunoda, heralded the move as a “great time to be a gamer”, adding that multi-platform gaming through Windows 10 has given gamers a lot more choice. And just to make it clear he stated that the move will not affect HoloLen’s own aspirations in the gaming world, explaining that the experience in VR and AR was worlds apart.

The Oculus Rift will be shipping to consumers in Q1 2016 it has been reported. At the moment it’s not definite what the price will be, although it’s thought that the complete set-up including headset and PC will cost about $1,500.

Photo credit: Xbox