Earlier this week we saw the Full Kit of the Valve Index become available inside of the Valve Store. Before then, the new headset was backlogged and didn’t promise shipping until the end of September. If you order the Index today, you are going to get this headset very quickly, as it will ship within 3 business days of your order being placed.
The Full Kit includes the headset itself, the touch controllers, and the two Valve base stations. This kit was quickly backordered when the product first launched, but with the company pushing orders out so quickly, if you order on a Monday, you could possibly get your VR kit by the end of the week. The reason for this is that the “initial quantities were outpaced by demand.”
Even the controllers, headsets, base stations, and individual items were so back ordered that Valve eventually stopped taking orders at one point. They were asking potential customers to take a waiting list approach as they would be notified if it was their time to order their desired products in the Valve Store. Even if were a part of the waiting list, the company still didn’t give you an estimated time that you would receive the products you were looking for. This trend is no more and all products are ready to be shipped quickly.
Valve is also expecting that their headsets and hardware will be ready to ship on command to all other international countries very quickly. The headset is currently available in 30 different countries and territories, but that number should be skyrocketing very quickly. Valve is looking to get their product out to as many people as possible, as soon as possible.
We knew that all of these Valve products would be “limited initial release”, but we didn’t expect the headset to be readily available at any given time this early. The headset is very popular amongst virtual reality lovers, but the price is not very inclusive. If you are looking to get into virtual reality and are needing a headset that introduces you to the world of VR, the Valve Index is not going to be the place to start. There are many reasons for this.
For starters, the price point is not very friendly. If you are not sure if you want to continuing playing VR and you already have spent a lot of money on your PC, then the $1,000 for the Index might be a bad bet on loving virtual reality. If you don’t, you can always return it, but a $1,000 investment in a gaming rig that you don’t know if you will love is something that will be a hard decision to make. If you are starting in VR, stay away from the Valve Index and look for the Oculus Go or the Oculus Quest. Both are completely standalone and easy to operate. They also don’t require a strong history in gaming or VR.
In other news regarding Valves new headset, the company has reserved the front page of Steam store for advertising the new headset. They say you can “get it now” for a price of $500, although that is the price of the headset alone. The controllers and base stations won’t be included at that price without the full kit.
With all of that being said, we are both happy and shocked that the Valve Index will be able to be shipped right when you order it. The Valve Index is one of the best headsets on the market and we can wait for more games to be optimized for the fantastic Knuckle controllers.
