According to a report at Ars Technica, HTC’s VR Headset the ‘Vive’ could find its way into selected developers hands very soon for nothing. Sign-ups for the device may also begin as early as next week.
GDC 2015 was dominated by virtual reality. In the wake of HTC’s surprise announcement of the Vive, a VR headset designed for Valve’s Steam VR platform, the headset coupled with Valve’s ‘room space’ tracking solution ‘Lighthouse’ made quite an impression on show goers.
What’s more, HTC pronounced that its Vive headset would be available to ‘selected developers’ in Spring this year followed by a consumer release of holiday 2015. Ambitious targets both.
See Also: Valve Reveals Timeline of Vive Prototypes, We Chart it For You
Tech news site Ars Technica have now reported that developers deemed worthy by Valve will receive a developer kit that “will be free, at least initially”. Valve spokesman Doug Lombardi told the site that “more info and ‘sign up’ forms will be available to all interested developers, big or small, via a new site coming soon” and furthermore that Valve hoped to get the new sign up site up by “next week”.
Valve’s approach to seeding developer hardware is in stark contrast to Oculus’, who famously Kickstarted their Rift developer kit (DK1) VR headset back in 2012, sending units to anyone who pledged the requisite amount. Oculus’ second developer kit was also available for anyone to pre-order when it launched in March 2013. It’s arguable that the estimated 60,000 DK1 units sold through to developers played a huge part in re-launching virtual reality as a viable consumer prospect again.
Precisely how the developer selection process will work remains unclear at present, but Lombardi stated that sign-ups will be open for teams “big and small”. Whatever the case, it’s likely that the ‘hand picked’ method is driven primarily by limited hardware availability, at least initially. Valve may also hold secondary concerns around software quality control, given the close proximity of the consumer launch. Early developer hardware has been in the hands of a small group of developers for months now.
With Valve looking to mobilise the Steam VR platform in November this year, apparently flanked by both Steam Machines, proprietary controller and Steam Link, the gaming giant’s expansion into hardware seems to be progressing with impressive fluidity. Although HTC are the first to produce a VR headset for the Steam VR platform, it’s thought that other companies may also bring devices to market at a later date.
We’ll keep you up to date as to when the new HTC Vive sign-up site appears, in the mean time don’t forget to register your interest at the current site to receive updates.
