CCP's EVE: Valkyrie will be bundled with every Oculus Rift headset acquired via pre-order.

The multiplayer space combat game, also in development for PlayStation VR, sees players piloting a starfighter to create safe passage for a fleet of ships.

Players sit in a virtual cockpit, using their line of sight to aim missiles, while piloting their vessel with a controller.

It stars Battlestar Galactica's Katee Sackhoff as fleet Lieutenant Rán Kavik.

Lead designer Andrew Willans describes the project's aims as "[making] you feel like a badass space pilot – Tom Cruise in Top Gun in space.”

The launch of virtual reality needs a "killer app" to make the sizeable initial investment worthwhile, and CCP, which recently raised US$30 million to fund further "innovation" in virtual reality, hopes Valkyrie will be that killer app.

"We want to be the Halo or Mario for the [PlayStation VR] and Oculus," the game's executive producer Owen O'Brien told Engadget, referring to system-selling titles from the original Xbox and virtually every Nintendo console.

The Oculus Rift is due for release in Q1 2016, which ends March 31st.