7000 dev kits to launch in the New Year
Valve and HTC’s VR headset, the HTC Vive, finally has an official release date: April 2016.
As made clear by the blog post announcing the launch window, this isn’t a second wave of dev kits (those are coming in the New Year). This is the date that real and finalised consumer models of the Vive will hit the market and be available for all to buy.
Right now HTC’s website is unsurprisingly getting absolutely hammered and is unavailable. Thanks to the magic of website caches, this is what the announcement says:
In an effort to clear up speculation and misinformation surrounding the launch of HTC Vive this month we are excited to give the community an update on the status of HTC Vive. We remain committed to delivering the HTC Vive to a broader group of content creators and partners, and remain focused on delivering the very best experience possible for a consumer release.
Since announcing the HTC Vive in March of this year we have focused on developing immersive content, refining both hardware design and user experience, and building relationships with new partners both inside and outside of the gaming industry. In collaboration with Valve, we have been distributing the HTC Vive Developer Kits to developers and content creators, and are continuing to work with many other innovative companies to create content that spans gaming, entertainment, medical, education and retail. This includes hosting a developer conference in Beijing on December 18th, launching the second generation of the HTC Vive Developer Kit at CES and engaging audiences at key events including The Sundance Film Festival, SXSW, GDC and MWC while expanding our demo tours.
We will be starting the New Year by making an additional 7,000 units available to developers, followed by commercial availability in April 2016. We are incredibly excited about the future and look forward to sharing more information as we move forward towards launch.
At the moment, no prices have been announced. Considering April is only five months away, we should hopefully hear some more information about the consumer launch very soon.
