New York, Jan 5 (IANS): While Oculus "Rift" -- a Virtual Reality (VR) device -- is set for a launch in the first quarter of this year, Facebook has decided to delay the launch of touch controllers till later in 2016.

Ahead of International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) -- a four-day event to be held from January 6 in Las Vegas, the social media website announced through its Oculus blog that its touch controllers will be delayed till the second half of 2016.

Also, the company announced that it would start with taking pre-orders from January 6.

"On Touch hardware, we have made significant advances in ergonomics, and we are implementing many changes that make Touch even more comfortable, reliable, and natural," the blog noted.

"We are also outputting larger numbers of pre-production runs, which means we can get a lot more touch hardware in the hands of developers who need it," it added.

Meanwhile, Greenlight VR CEO Clifton Dawson said this delay might benefit consumers, as it gives Oculus extra time to make the touch controllers more comfortable and reliable in recognising interactions, a report in Fortune.com said on Monday.

"The delays also allow Oculus more time for developers to begin testing and creating experiences with them," Dawson said.

Greenlight VR is the industry leader in market intelligence for the global virtual reality economy.

Virtual reality is a computer-simulated reality (in a device) that replicates, via photos, an environment that simulates a physical presence in places in the real world or an imagined world, allowing the user to interact in that world.

Virtual reality artificially creates sensory experiences that can include sight, hearing, touch and smell.