A lot of people are looking forward to getting their hands on a virtual reality headset before 2015 ends. The HTC Vive, a virtual reality headset which HTC and Valve are jointly developing, was supposed to be released this month. However, in an announcement made earlier this week, the VR head gear's release got pushed back to spring of next year.
In a blog post dated Dec. 8, HTC tries to clear up misinformation and speculations regarding its launch. Apparently, the HTC Vive will not come out to the consumer market until April 2016. Nonetheless, those who want to reserve the headset in advance can do so in February.
"We will be starting the new year by making an additional 7,000 units available to developers, with preorders from the end of February followed by commercial availability in April 2016," promises HTC.
Indirectly, HTC cites a broader group of partners and content creators, together with its intent to provide consumers with the best possible experience, as the reason for the delayed release. We can deduce that HTC wants more content for its headset, explaining the additional 7,000 dev kits that it will out.
The HTC Vive was announced for a December 2015 release in March 2015. Since the announcement, HTC distributed a number of HTC Vive Developers Kits to encourage developers and content creators to produce content around gaming, entertainment, education, medical industries and other niches.
HTC will also host a developer conference in Beijing on Dec. 18. It also plans to release the HTC Vive Developer Kit's second generation at CES 2016. The new headset will be marketed to consumers through events like South by Southwest, Game Developers Conference, Mobile World Congress and the Sundance Film Festival. The company is also considering expanding its demo tour for the HTC Vive.
Below is a recent demo of the HTC Vive. Forget about immersive, it looks magnificent.
