Shadow VR is the Latest of 15 Hardware Partners to Adopt HTC’s Vive Wave Platform

Shadow Creator, a Shanghai-based headset manufacturer, today announced their upcoming headset Shadow VR will be the newest hardware partner to adopt HTC’s Vive Wave platform. The standalone VR headset, which supports six degrees of freedom (6DOF) for both headset and controller tracking, is slated to launch worldwide on November 11th for $400.

Update (November 10th, 2018): In a previous version of this article the headline incorrectly stated that Shadow VR was the latest of 15 VR headsets to adopt Vive Wave when in reality it is the latest of 15 manufacturers. The headline has been changed to reflect this distinction.

15 total hardware partners, including Pico’s latest Neo headset, have announced their support for Vive Wave and are planning the integration of Wave into their products. Like other Vive Wave hardware partners, Shadow VR will use HTC’s Viveport mobile storefront.

Vive Wave is the HTC-developed open platform announced last year that offers interoperability between several classes of mobile VR headsets and accessories, something the company hopes will be a “step forward in bringing together the highly fragmented mobile VR market.”

According to a press statement, Shadow VR 6DOF controllers were developed in-house, and includes a nine-axis gyroscope, and a button layout similar to many VR controllers today.

At this point it’s uncertain how Shadow VR’s controllers achieve 6DOF, although it’s possible they use a system based on ultrasonics similar to the kind seen on Vive Focus 6DOF controller developer kit, albeit integrated directly into the headset. The company states it does this via “raytracing,” although it’s uncertain what that means in the context of controller tracking.

While there’s currently a product page for Shadow VR, little else is known about the headset beyond the raw specs listed by Shadow Creator, seen below.

Shadow VR Specs