HTC’s Vive Cosmos Elite ships out today, and if all you were expecting in the box was the hardware itself and maybe a few free months of Viveport, you’d be wrong. Everyone who buys a Cosmos Elite is getting Half-Life: Alyx for free.

Vive Cosmos owners will still need to wait to get Cosmos Elite in their hands, as the digital code is included in the box itself, which is a bit of a downer if you’re just now thinking of making an upgrade from an older headset but still want the game right away. 

It’s a limited time offer, with terms and conditions stating that it will be available while supplies until June 30th 2020.

Image courtesy HTC

HTC wasn’t the first to tempt would-be headset owners to pull out their credit cards with the promise of head crap-ganking action. Valve famously included Half-Life: Alyx with Index, however shipping times are currently quoted around eight weeks. Priced $100 lower than the full Valve Index kit, Vive Cosmos includes the Vive Cosmos headset, a detachable SteamVR tracking faceplate (more modular faceplates coming soon), two Vive wand controllers, and two SteamVR 1.0 base stations for $900.

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Whether that $100 savings over Index accurately accounts for the 2016-era motion controllers and tracking base stations, well, it doesn’t really feel like. However you slice it though, a free copy of Half-Life: Alyx certainly sweetens the pot if you were already on the fence.

If you’re considering either headset, make sure to check out our deep dive review for Vive Cosmos, the Vive Cosmos Elite faceplate, and Valve Index to decide for yourself.

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Scott Hayden
Well before the first modern XR products hit the market, Scott recognized the potential of the technology and set out to understand and document its growth. He has been professionally reporting on the space for nearly a decade as Editor at Road to VR, authoring more than 4,000 articles on the topic. Scott brings that seasoned insight to his reporting from major industry events across the globe.
  • Alextended

    And then you just gotta give ~300 more to upgrade to the Index controllers cos the Vive wands they keep going with are clunky obsolete badly designed crap that hampered early VR games requiring stupid toggle controls as they didn’t have enough inputs and the grip trigger was awful. HTC bets on the good products, Index and Rift S, being out of stock.

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  • A very good marketing move… it will be interesting to see next months in the Steam stats if it will have paid off

  • Nice Bait HTC, nice bait.