Valve Index VR kits will be available to purchase again on Monday, March 9, starting at 10 am Pacific time.
The restock timing was reported previously as a “leak” by some but we confirmed the plans directly with Valve. It sounds, however, like it will be very hard to order one and have it arrive quickly. Here’s the official statement from the company explaining the plan:
Valve Index VR kits will be available for purchase this Monday (March 9) starting at 10am PDT. We do expect available stock to sell out Monday due to high demand, so all purchases fulfilled beyond this initial quantity will be fulfilled in the order in which they are received, as supplies increase over the coming months.
In February we reported that production schedules for Valve Index were affected by the coronavirus that’s also hit Facebook’s Oculus Quest. The Valve Index controllers were developed alongside the highly anticipated VR game Half-Life: Alyx, which releases on March 23. Index controllers strap to the hands and also work with HTC’s SteamVR-tracked systems like the original Vive and Vive Pro while enabling some optional interactions in the game.
The Index VR headset is one of the most comfortable on the market and demand seemed to increase for Valve’s hardware since the formal November announcement of Half-Life: Alyx. The built-for-VR expansion to the Half-Life universe is a full-length flagship game that takes place between the events of the original from 1998 and Half-Life 2.
Valve Index is only officially sold through the Steam marketplace. The full kit sells for $1,000 and hasn’t been available for sale in recent weeks. Valve planned to get more in stock prior to the release of Alyx but, due to the coronavirus, will have fewer ready to ship prior to the game’s release.
Will you be on Steam ready to purchase this coming Monday? Let us know in the comments.
