Oculus Founder Says His New VR Headset Is Like Matrix: 'If You Die In The Game, You Die In Real Life'

Palmer Luckey, the founder of virtual reality company Oculus, claims to have created a new headset that can kill a person in real life if they die in a game.

What Happened: In what sounds like a trope used in many sci-movies, including Keanu Reeves starrer “The Matrix,” Luckey claims to have made a custom VR headset that can kill a player in real life if they die in a video game. The new VR headset — 'NerveGear' — was initially featured in the anime series, Sword Art Online, or SOA.

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In the series, NerveGear recreates reality using a direct neural interface that can also kill the user.

Luckey, a former employer of Meta Platforms Inc. META, said that he always found tying real life to the user's virtual avatar a fascinating idea. It's not the first time Luckey has mentioned a deadly video game. He tweeted about it even a year ago.

The concept of videogames with physical consequences as severe as death are a sci-fi staple, but seen as beyond the pale in real life. Given the popularity of motorsports, extreme athletics, etc: Why?

— Palmer Luckey (@PalmerLuckey) March 9, 2021

In SOA, players who fail to escape a mad scientist's trap suffer from microwave-induced brain melting. Luckey's headset blows up a person's head using charge modules. 

Explaining his headset further, Luckey says it's mostly a “piece of office art” for now. Considering it is an imperfect system, he still hasn't used the headset.

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