Valve Teases Its Own VR Headset, The Valve Index

Valve is pretty big into virtual reality if you haven't noticed. The company partnered with HTC to deliver the Vive VR headset, but now Valve released a first look at its own VR kit, the Valve Index.

All we know so far about the Valve Index is a general look at it from above (or below?) and the date of May 2019. You can see a slider of sorts, some kind button, and what looks to be at least two sensors on the front.

Valve's own VR headset has been rumored for quite some time. UploadVR reported on some Valve Index rumors last November with details suggesting it supports a wider 135-degree field of view, and will be bundled with the SteamVR Knuckles motion controllers. Those controllers have similarly been teased and talked about by Valve, but haven't actually been seen.

There's also the matter of the three VR games developed by Valve that Gabe Newell has referenced on a couple occasions in the past two years. As opposed to previous Valve VR projects like "The Lab," which served as a little sampler of what VR can do, Newell told reporters that these are "three full games, not experiments."

Newell told reporters that Valve's approach to designing VR headsets and VR games mirrors Nintendo's hardware philosophy, which is that because they can design systems and games for that system, designers like Shigeru Miyamoto have better input on their projects.

There's already a Steam page up for the Valve Index as well, but it only features the teaser image. Namely the shadowy picture of the Valve Index, the May 2019 date, and the tagline: "Upgrade your experience."

We'll just have to wait until May 2019 to see what Valve's new VR hardware can do, and hopefully see the three games Newell's been talking about.