Valve’s HTC Vive isn’t coming out until April 2016

By Gabe Carey December 8, 2015

watch out rift htc vive pre orders open on february 29 5 1500x1000 — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Back in August, Valve made it clear that if you were getting your hopes up for the HTC Vive to hit shelves by the end of 2015, you’d be pretty disappointed. That’s because, like Facebook’s Oculus Rift or Sony’s PlayStation VR, the Vive wouldn’t be ready for the masses until at least a few months into 2016. In the case of Vive, the launch has now been pushed back until April of next year.

Amidst this news, Valve also made plans to ship at least a few more dev kits out by the end of the year in addition to a few headsets released to the “community.” Unfortunately, the broader public will miss out on this fun — at least until April 2016, that is. The head-mounted display may be equipped with the magic of two tracking stations and dual Wiimote-esque wand controllers, but a 2015 release seems to have proven difficult for the HTC-Valve collaboration initiative.

For an intended fluff effect, HTC’s announcement did its best not to focus on the delay. The important news was thickly veiled behind talk of the headset’s presence at various trade shows and press events including GDC, SXSW, MWC, and even Sundance. And, of course, this all comes in addition to a completely Vive-centric press conference to be held next week, on December 18, in Beijing.

HTC also mentioned that at the “start” of 2016, the company will deliver 7,000 second-generation Vive hardware kits for developers to tinker with. Those same models will be used to show off the tech at CES in January, though it’s unclear what HTC will focus on in terms of content for the device.

The company did not mention any additional information, including pricing, consumer shipment volumes, or specific release date information.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics

Former Digital Trends Contributor

A freelancer for Digital Trends, Gabe Carey has been covering the intersection of video games and technology since he was 16…

Computing

Everything HTC announced at ViveCon 2021: Vive Focus 3 and Vive Pro 2

everything htc announced at vivecon 2021 vive focus 3 vice pro 2

HTC took to its ViveCon virtual reality conference to announce two new VR headsets that cater to professional and enterprise needs. From the stand-alone Vive Focus 3 to the PC-based HTC Vive Pro 2, HTC VR owners will benefit from some big upgrades this year.

The company cited PwC's research, which predicts that VR and AR will add more than $1.4 trillion to the global economy by 2030 in highlighting the importance of virtual reality. At stake is the creation of hundreds of thousands of new jobs across every sector and industry, HTC said.

Computing

How to watch HTC’s ViveCon today, the ‘most important VR event of the year’

htc vivecon vr headsets 2021 vive air leak

HTC has been teasing that multiple new virtual reality headsets could be launching at ViveCon, the company's VR conference, this year. Slated to take place virtually this year on May 11, HTC had announced its plan to "[unveil] game-changing VR headsets, software, and platforms to take your experience to another level" at the show. Depending on what's announced, these new VR headsets sound like they could replace a number of options that are currently considered the best VR headsets you can buy.

While ViveCon is expected to be an enterprise-specific conference this year, those following the augmented, virtual, and mixed reality market could see how HTC is advancing the segment with its latest wares and platform to foster more innovation in the VR space.
How to watch ViveCon 2021 live stream

Computing

Two new ‘game-changing’ VR headsets could arrive at HTC’s ViveCon next week

HTC Vive Pro Eye virtual reality headset

HTC has been teasing that a new virtual reality headset could launch at its Vivecon conference next week, but the company may have more up its sleeve. We are hearing reports that HTC has several VR headsets in the works. The company is expected to launch at least two new headsets at ViveCon on May 11, and it will likely use the venue to talk about the recently leaked Vive Air.

The two headsets rumored to be launching at ViveCon are the HTC Vive Pro 2 and the Vive Focus 3 Business Edition. HTC's sports-focused Vive Air was leaked late last month, but the company quickly debunked speculation that this particular model will be launching any time soon. Instead, HTC said that the Vive Air is just a concept.