The official reveal of Valve’s latest venture may very well be its most ludicrous as well.
Just over a month ago, Valve surprise-revealed the Index, its very own virtual reality headset. Now, pre-orders have officially begun as of May 1, and we finally get some more details for this machine and just how much will it hurt your wallet. And hurt it, the price does; the Valve Index will set you back $999 US dollars.
Now that is pretty steep, especially going by today’s VR headset standards. Facebook and Oculus recently announced the Oculus Quest and Oculus Rift S, their two newest headsets, and both will ship with a price tag of $399, which is $600 cheaper than the Index. What’s good to hear, though, is that Valve will let you use other peripherals if you’ve already got them, meaning that in some cases you won’t see yourself spending that much.
Here’s the official pricing of the Valve Index kits:
- Valve Index VR Kit – includes the Index headset, Knuckles controllers and two Valve Index base stations. Costs $999.
- Valve Index Headset + Controllers Combo – aimed at players who already have base stations. Includes the Index headset and Knuckles controllers. Costs $749.
- Valve Index Headset – aimed at players who have Vive or Vive Pro controllers and base stations. Costs $499.
- Valve Index Controllers – aimed at players who have Vive or Vive Pro headsets and base stations. Costs $279.
- Valve Index Base Stations – aimed at players who have Vive or Vive Pro headsets and controllers. Costs $149 for each base station.
The main counterpoint made by Valve to its certainly higher-end pricing is the visual clarity offered only by the Index. According to its product spec sheet, the Index has dual 1440x1600 RGB LCDs which have 50 percent more subpixels than OLED. It also boasts higher frame rates, running at a whopping 120Hz, while offering 90Hz backward compatibility for those who have grown accustomed to it. An experimental feature also allows up to 144Hz, which can provide better smoothness in quality and games.
For those interested, the Valve Index is now available for pre-orders on its Steam page. It is set to hit markets on June 28.
