Valve warned us that supplies for its Index VR headset would be limited when it went back up on sale this week. And it wasn’t kidding.
Within less than an hour of going back online, the full Index kit is backed up to shipping after eight weeks. In fact, people on Twitter report that that was the case around 30 minutes in to them going back on sale. Some users also had trouble completing their orders, which may have lost them an early unit. The headset on its own ships between eight to ten weeks and Index controllers are scheduled between three to five weeks. Base stations by themselves are totally sold out, too.
Half-Life: Alyx is out on March 23, so anyone hoping to pick up an Index now won’t be able to play the game until over six weeks past its launch.
In February, Valve confirmed to UploadVR that the Coronavirus crisis had impacted production of its headset, which had been backordered since before the current situation.
Meanwhile, Facebook’s Oculus Quest and Oculus Rift S also remain heavily backordered. In quite an unprecedented situation for VR, it’s now practically impossible to buy an Oculus or Valve VR headset through an official online retailer, especially if you want it to arrive before Alyx. The HTC Vive Cosmos remains in stock at $699. If you wanted an Oculus headset you may get lucky at physical stores, or you could buy a headset second hand.
We’ll keep an eye on the stock situation for all VR headsets in the coming weeks and months and let you know when and where you can buy one.
