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I have to admit, I am a little surprised. The Valve Index limited pre-orders that went live on May 1st have already completely sold out.

Looking at the store page in the UK for the full kit, it's now only showing that you can reserve it with a new expected shipping date of August 31st. However, the Controllers and Base Stations are still showing up as in stock. Oddly the full bundle has a different expected shipping date to the Headset/Controller bundle and Headset by itself with those now expected by July 31st.

It seems for those who are really interested in VR, price is no issue. However, we've no idea how many Valve were keeping in reserve for the initial batch. In the press release Valve originally sent, all they said was that it was "limited". I can imagine them having quite a lot though of course, so it's still a very healthy sign for Valve's newer platform.

Going by the Steam Hardware Survey, the amount of people with a VR set on Steam is currently below 1% of Steam users so perhaps we will see a nice up-tick by the end of the year? For those who keep writing-off VR as a ridiculous niche, do keep in mind the VR market share on Steam is now higher than Linux.

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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dpanter May 3, 2019
Surprising, and awesome!

I would love to know how many units we're talking about. Knowing Valve, they'll say "100%" and expect us to be satisfied with that 'number'.
Arehandoro May 3, 2019
It would be great to try it somewhere before deciding whether spending that money is really worth it. Any possibility to see it at some expo near London?
pb May 3, 2019
Now if only the test app worked on Linux...

By the way, is valve index wireless? or does it at least have some accessory to make it wireless?


Last edited by pb on 3 May 2019 at 8:58 am UTC
einherjar May 3, 2019
TBH, that is some kind of "none-information".
If we do not have an idea, how much was in stock, it does not say anything...

That is like, "I think my PC will cost 1000"
Ehvis May 3, 2019
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I decided that my own reasoning was actually very convincing. So I reserved myself a full set. I'd actually be fine if the delivery date would be pushed back a little further since I don't think the middle of summer is the best time to spend with such a device on your head. :D
nattydread May 3, 2019
Given the way this will be linux compatible and given that AAA games would be developed for it I wonder if this will launch native AAA linux games into the mainstream?
I hope so!
Liam Dawe May 3, 2019
Quoting: einherjarTBH, that is some kind of "none-information".
If we do not have an idea, how much was in stock, it does not say anything...

That is like, "I think my PC will cost 1000"
Regardless of the details there: An expensive new bit of hardware that supports Linux from day one selling out, is actually very good to know. It shows Valve are obviously onto something, people have been waiting for a seriously good VR HMD even if it's pricey.
grenadecx May 3, 2019
Well this isn't surprising. I expected the same kind of response that we initially got from the HTC Vive release. It's a little more expensive, but not a lot - Also everything seems improved. The pricing is a lot better then the stupid HTC Vive Pro. I'm still mad on HTC for making the price so high on that one, it never made sense, especially not after the initial release of the HTC Vive and it's pricing.

I'm a bit worried about that they went with LCD over OLED, but maybe that makes sense - we will see. Also not sure about the "off ear" headphones. I'm a bit worried that the audio will be mushy if you are in a room with friends with loud speakers.

Anyways, I'm excited! Now if I could get hold of a unit...
beniwtv May 3, 2019
I got my order in a few minutes after the site opened :)
Full unboxing & testing live stream will be done once it arrives.

EDIT: Vive launch was a bit rocky for me on Linux, but now that it has matured, let's see how this launch will go.


Last edited by beniwtv on 3 May 2019 at 10:07 am UTC
Sil_el_mot May 3, 2019
I also got my order immediately, in expectation that they will be sold out soon.
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