Everything we know so far and what we want to see

Despite launching over 4 years in the past, the Valve Index stays one of the crucial superior PC VR headsets. Competition within the high-end phase has slowed down fairly a bit, with Meta giving up the Quest Pro sequence so as to shift focus to cheaper VR headsets just like the Quest 3. This might all change sooner or later, particularly with Apple’s high-end Vision Pro on its manner early subsequent yr. Will Valve launch an Index 2 so as to keep aggressive? Good query.

Here’s all the things we know concerning the Valve Index 2 and what we’d like to see from it.

The VR trade continues to be a rising and evolving market with its personal distinctive ebb and circulate. We usually see new merchandise just like the PSVR 2 and Meta Quest 3 spark new curiosity from mainstream shoppers, just for VR to considerably fade into the background as soon as extra. Rinse and repeat.

As we talked about briefly above, the market might warmth up as soon as once more with Apple’s upcoming entrance into the house. This may drive Valve into releasing an Index 2. While there aren’t any official particulars about Valve’s plans, a minimum of just a few rumors counsel Valve is engaged on one thing.

A South Korean radio certification for a Valve product referred to as 1030 has surfaced. This aligns with Valve’s earlier inner labels for merchandise, because the Steam Deck was listed as 1010, and the unique Valve Index was beforehand listed as 1007. Judging by the numbers, that is extra seemingly to be tied to the Steam Deck, however once more we can’t say for positive.

More compelling, Steam information miner Brad Lynch noted the Steam consumer’s September replace included numerous VR-specific strings associated to batteries, supporting the thought Valve could be engaged on a standalone VR headset. Would this headset exchange the Index or increase it as a less expensive cellular possibility? That’s more durable to guess.

What we do know is that the Valve Index remains to be thought of one of the crucial highly effective options for VR. This makes it not solely fashionable with VR lovers but in addition with companies adopting VR for causes past leisure. That mentioned, perhaps they’ve seen the Quest’s success on the low finish and want to go after a extra mainstream viewers.

Given this early proof, we’d say it’s fairly seemingly an Index 2 will occur, it’s simply a lot more durable to gauge whether or not it’s going to find yourself titled as a full successor or simply the launch of a brand new product line. For now, we’ll proceed to refer to it because the Valve Index 2 on this submit, only for simplicity.

What is the most definitely Valve Index 2 launch date?

• Valve Index — June 28, 2019

The authentic Valve Index arrived in June of 2019 and is the primary and solely member of the Index household so far, making it arduous to draw any conclusions on when the Valve Index 2 launch date could be.

There have been rumors earlier this summer season claiming an Index 2 launch would occur this yr, nevertheless it’s getting very shut to the top of the yr now. If a launch remains to be taking place, it wants to occur imminently. After all, in the event that they wait any longer than late October or early November, it might be too late to make its manner onto any vacation buying lists.

If Valve chooses to wait till subsequent yr, we’d say an early to mid-2024 launch could be very attainable. Again, that’s actually simply based mostly on hypothesis.

What specs and options might the Valve Index 2 have?

So far, the rumors haven’t given us too many particulars, apart from the beforehand talked about code machine suggesting it might need its personal battery. It’s additionally arduous to say whether or not this is able to be a real stand-alone or simply one thing that doesn’t require direct tethering.

There have been just a few latest patents for VR headset designs from Valve in 2023, however patents usually are nearly testing new issues and don’t essentially translate into real-world product modifications. Still, it’s price noting the latest patent render didn’t look a lot totally different from the Valve Index — suggesting Valve is both taking part in its playing cards shut to its vest, or it isn’t seemingly going to rock the boat an excessive amount of on design.

Beyond that? If Valve is planning a extra moveable possibility, it’s attainable it’ll make extra modest modifications to issues just like the show expertise and field-of-view (FoV) to preserve prices from ballooning an excessive amount of. Valve remains to be among the finest with a 130-degree FoV, so it may not be essential to revolutionize this facet. Then once more, if Valve goes all in, it would resolve that retaining pricing down isn’t as necessary as staying on the bleeding fringe of VR.

We additionally think about Valve would a minimum of want to match or barely exceed the Quest 3’s 2,064 x 2,208 pixels per eye.

Tracking and controllers are different areas the place Valve is probably going to want to make enhancements, which we’ll discuss a bit extra in our “What we want to see” part.

What may the Valve Index 2 worth be?

The Valve Index wasn’t the most cost effective possibility when it was first launched, and within the present panorama, the worth of the Valve Index 2 might be even increased. For one, the financial system has witnessed a rise within the pricing of VR headsets, as seen with gadgets just like the Meta Quest 2, which elevated by $100 lengthy after its preliminary launch.

Additionally, we should take into consideration Apple and its Vision Pro. The Apple VR headset is predicted to value $3,499. Why is that this necessary? The Valve Index was one of the crucial highly effective VR headsets at its launch, so it’s attainable that the corporate may delve even deeper and ship a costlier headset to higher compete with Apple. If that’s the case, the worth might simply vary from $1,200 to $1,600 and nonetheless be thought of a extra reasonably priced various.

However, let’s not overlook the rumors concerning the subsequent Valve Index VR headset having a battery, which might make it extra moveable. Currently, we don’t know if this implies Valve is planning to compete with the brand new Quest 3 or if it’s extra seemingly to align with one thing just like the $1,099 Vive XR Elite.

If it’s the previous, we might count on Valve to preserve the worth round $500 to $750. If it’s planning a extra high-end standalone product just like the XR Elite, a price ticket of $999 or increased would make numerous sense.

If you might be completely within the Valve Index sequence, sure, we’d wait. The Valve Index is presently virtually 5 years outdated, so it’s not definitely worth the hefty funding when it’s seemingly in its twilight years.

If you’re simply on the lookout for a high-end VR headset and don’t want to look forward to one thing that may not come anytime quickly, the HTC Vive Pro 2 ($1251.99 at Amazon) can be a good selection because it’s solely two years outdated and ought to have numerous help left.

What when you’re hoping extra for a stand-alone possibility? The Meta Quest 3 ($499.99 at Best Buy) might be definitely worth the buy when you don’t want one thing high-end. If you’re holding out hope the Index can have a higher-end stand-alone expertise, we would truly wait to see what Valve delivers earlier than contemplating one thing just like the Vive Elite XR.

Valve Index 2: What we want to see

The Valve Index was a superb headset, however VR expertise has superior within the final four-plus years. Base stations and tethers are now not fashionable. We hope to see Valve ditch these older applied sciences with their subsequent headset. Beyond that, some small controller enhancements can be good.

Most trendy VR headsets have built-in cameras that assist orient the machine, eliminating the necessity for base stations within the course of. In distinction, the Valve Index requires you to place base stations round an area to ensure that it to observe the headset.

While base station monitoring is arguably a bit extra correct, built-in digicam options have come a good distance not too long ago. We’re hoping that the Valve Index 2 makes use of a digicam answer that’s efficient sufficient to exchange base stations altogether.

Valve’s controllers are a number of the greatest round, with nice finger-tracking help and a reasonably snug design. That mentioned, they’re a bit bulkier than different VR controllers and some buttons could be arduous to attain for these with smaller arms. We don’t want to see Valve dramatically change up its enter gadgets, however it could be good to see just a few refinements to make them extra snug for all hand sizes. Better but, Valve might give us two totally different controller sizes for these with bigger or smaller arms.

We’d like to see a tetherless design this time, and presumably two fashions

We have already talked about the rumored Valve Index 2 battery just a few instances, and for good motive. A tetherless, battery-driven design is far simpler to use than one thing that has tons of wires working out of it. I used to journey on my HTC Vive’s wire from time to time and dreamt of the day that cords would go away on VR. We’ve already seen stand-alone designs which can be really tetherless, however we’re hoping that the rumor is true and Valve goes all-in with the tetherless method.

At the identical time, we’re actually hoping that the Valve Index 2 isn’t a watered-down Meta Quest-style machine. The Valve Index is without doubt one of the strongest VR headsets even as we speak, and we hope to see the Valve Index 2 proceed specializing in the high-end market. Of course, one of the best of each worlds can be to have a high-end Index headset that may nonetheless work stand-alone comparable to the HTC Vive Elite XR, and a less expensive mannequin that works extra just like the Meta Quest 3.