Having set the internet rumour mill going last week when Valve teased an image for its new headset Index, it seemed almost too perfect that further details should leak a few days later on April Fool’s no less. But that’s what happened yesterday, with a Steam page being discovered and then Valve confirming that details were true, it now looks as though the headset will officially arrive in June.
Twitter user Wario64 was the first to discover the placeholder Steam product page for the Valve Index – which has since been taken down – which gave one important piece of information, and that was a shipping date of 15th June. As you can see from the image below there was a brand new Valve Index image showcasing built-in headphones. Other highlights also included the mention of a Pass-Through Camera feature, and while the minimum spec is an Nvidia GTX 970 the recommended GPU is a GTC 1070 or higher.
It was Road to VR that then received the confirmation from Valve stating the page wasn’t a hoax, saying the info: “while not comprehensive, is accurate.” Valve also mentioned that 1st May was the target date for the official reveal as well as the start of pre-orders for Valve Index. The Knuckles controllers will also be sold alongside the device, named as ‘Valve Index Controllers.’
The Steam page also seems to indicate that Valve Index will be sold in a similar fashion to HTC Vive Pro, just as a headset (‘Controllers, Base Stations, and PC required’) for those that already own Lighthouse Base Stations. Which means the possibility of a bundle deal with the base stations and Valve Index Controllers.
With Valve being the secretive company that it is, all this leaked information is very irregular, especially considering it’s still made no further mention of the VR videogames supposedly in development. VRFocus wouldn’t expect any further info to leak in the next few weeks as the company prepares for the official unveiling next month. It’ll be interesting to see how Valve decides to price the headset.
VRFocus will continue its coverage of Valve Index, reporting back with any new info.