Valve teases the Valve Index: it may feature hands tracking and next-gen experience

Valve has finally teased its upcoming headset: the Valve Index. As always in the typical Valve style, it has not made it with some big reveal during an event, but it has just opened a dedicated page on its website, that you can access here.

The only official pieces of information provided are the above photo with the writing “Upgrade your experience. May 2019“.

From the photo, it is possible to see what we already knew from the leaked photos of some months ago: the headset features two frontal wide-baseline cameras, the sensors for outside-in tracking and a slider for hardware IPD adjustment. The headset features the branding “Valve INDEX”, so it seems a headset manufactured by Valve itself, or manufactured by some partner that will remain behind the curtains. This will be the first headset by Valve and we are all very curious about how it will be. On the device, there will also be a button, that I honestly don’t get what it is for: to put it on standby? To activate the passthrough from the cameras? To move it so that to adjust it on your face? I guess we’ll know that during the launch.

The writing makes us think that this device is an upgrade from the existing generation of VR headsets. And in May 2019 we may have further info about it… or we may also have directly the launch of the headset. We don’t know… Valve is very tight-lipped on this headset. What we can imagine is that it will be launched together with the Valve Knuckles and some dedicated content.

The Verge has asked Valve if it is an April’s fool and Valve’s Doug Lombardi only replied with “Not April.”. So, this is a sure news, a new headset. Fasten your seatbelts, because it is going to be a great ride.

And that’s it with the news of the day. If you want just to read facts, well, thanks for reading my post and please like and share it on social media! If instead, you also want to read about absolutely unconfirmed speculations, please go on.

Ok, if you are here then you are like me and like to read rumors about VR, even if in the end they prove to be not true. What’s more amazing than talking about possible features of upcoming headsets?

You can read all the rumors about the Valve Index in this previous post of mine, that I’ve written at the time of the leaked photos. According to UploadVR, the Index will feature the same display of the Vive Pro (2880×1600), 135° field of view and it will be released with a Half-Life VR game.

But I’ve even more news for today. Since I’m very curious about the Index, I tried gathering some info about it speaking with my secret source Miss Potato. Miss Potato is a friend of friends that speaks with friends of friends. She is a reliable source of rumors and info… but of course, what she tells me is just UNCONFIRMED info and rumors. So, please, don’t consider this as sure news. Please.

When I asked her about the Index, she told me that is hard to get info about it, but what she has heard is that:

• It is really an upgrade for this generation of virtual reality headsets. She clarified that the specs are not mind-blowing… they are just a bit above to the ones of the Vive Pro (as the rumor of Upload seems to confirm). But the device will be a high-quality one and will feature various HW and SW optimizations and tricks that will make the experience really great. So the idea of Valve seems to be the one of giving you the best experience possible that you can have with those specs;
• Outside-in tracking with Steam VR 2.0 and 1.0 is confirmed. Regarding inside-out tracking, she was not that sure that it will be implemented;
• Tracking cameras may be black-and-white ones;
• There will be hands tracking. This may be the purpose of the two baseline cameras… or there may also be an embedded Leap Motion v2. She was quite sure about hands tracking offered together with the headset;
• Valve will use Half-Life VR and other games really optimized for this headset and the Valve controllers to enter the market and gain shares in the gaming market really fast. So, she told me that there will be a Half-Life VR game;
• The price is not expected to be super cheap. Quality has to be paid. Miss Potato envisions a price superior to the one of the latest Lenovo WMR heads…ehm, I mean, the Rift S.

This is what I was able to get from her. It is not that much, it is all based on unofficial news (again, all the above may be false in the end), but it makes me hyped even more about this headset. If Valve doesn’t want to bet on throwing big numbers on the table (like saying that it has 180° FOV), but it really wants to bet on offering the best experience possible to the user with what technology provides us today… and if there will be embedded hands tracking…well, I am in. Does someone want a kidney of mine? 😉

And that’s it for today! I hope you are excited as me for this new headset and I really hope that you loved also to read a lot of unconfirmed rumors with me! And if you liked this post, please share it and subscribe to my newsletter!

UPDATE: We have some more info on the Valve Index: a new leaked photo and product page. From them we can learn that Valve will unveal the product on May, 1st and the shipping will be around the 15th of June. The cameras are confirmed to offer passthrough functionality. Read more on Road To VR.

(Header image by Valve)