The Valve Index PC VR system is currently sold out, but the company expects to be back in stock before the release of its highly anticipated first party VR title.
Availability of the Index has been extremely limited since the announcement of Half-Life: Alyx in November- Valve’s first “flagship” VR game and first new entry in its most popular franchise in over 12 years.
We’ve been following Valve Index supply since the announcement and confirmed the restocking statement directly with Valve that was first reported by RoadToVR. Specifically, a Valve representative provided the following statement:
“We are working hard in building more Index units to meet the high demand and we expect to be in stock before Alyx ships”
Half-Life: Alyx is currently slated to ship in March. Given Valve’s history, though, plenty of close watchers are preparing themselves for the possibility of a delay.
The Valve Index is priced steep at $999 for the full bundle. That’s more than double the price of the Oculus Rift S. In fact, you could buy all three of Facebook’s headsets for that price.
For that price, however, users get arguably he best overall VR experience available. The high refresh rate makes moving around feel realistic, the audio quality is sublime, the controllers allow for natural intuitive interaction, and the wider field of view immerses you more into the virtual world.
But great hardware doesn’t sell without great content. It wasn’t until Alyx was announced that we saw Index move to its current state of continuous low availability.
While the game will support all PC VR headsets, including Oculus Quest via Oculus Link, some of the optional interactions will only be possible with the Index controllers.
Facebook’s VR executives seem to believe that current VR hardware can’t achieve the wide appeal they’re seeking with a price higher than around $400. After two full years on the market, HTC’s Vive Pro makes up just 2% of VR headsets on Steam. But with Index already past 6%, Valve might be proving that with the right product and the right flagship content, there is already a place in the market for a high end VR headset.
