HTC and Valve to Offer Vive VR Dev Kit for Free
The collaboration between HTC and Valve has created a good contender to match the Oculus Rift in the form of the HTC Vive VR headset, and now they will offer the early developer program for free – no matter how big or small your dev team is.
In a press announcement made by Valve, they announced that the Vive will be offered for free to qualified developers – big or small – for the early Developer Edition of the VR headset. Valve and HTC are taking a different path in offering the dev kit for the Vive; it can be recalled that the Oculus Rift developer editions have been made available by Oculus to any interested developer for a price tag ranging from $300 to $350.
As of now, HTC and Valve has already sent out early Dev Editions of the Vive to some handpicked developer teams, such as Bossa Studios, noted for their work on the Surgeon Simulator; Fireproof Games, creators of The Room; and Owlchemy Labs, makers of Aaaaaa! For The Awesome. Valve has already started work on a signup page for interested early bird adopters of the Vive Developer Edition, and is expected to be made online soon before its expected Spring 2015 release. The aforementioned dev teams have been selected by HTC and Valve, but as soon as the signup page is available, the program will be open for interested parties to participate in.
According to Valve’s spokesperson Doug Lombardi, developers who will be approved for the program will be getting a Developer Edition kit that “will be free, at least initially.” As part of HTC and Valve’s efforts to make the developer kits available way ahead of the planned Late 2015 general consumer launch, the early-bird packages will be available to ship later in the spring. The availability of a “free” Vive kit is good for developers since HTC’s Jeff Gattis, Executive Director for Connected Products Marketing, said recently that the general consumer should expect “a slightly higher price point” for the consumer-grade edition of the VR headset.
As the Valve’s SteamVR homepage states, the Vive Developer Edition will be coming in a kit that has “a headset, two single-handed controllers, and a system that tracks them all in the same absolute space.” On the other hand, HTC Vive website offers a page where interested developers can enter their email to get updates on the Vive’s development.
For more information on HTC and Valve’s Vive VR headset, please visit the following websites:
http://www.htcvr.com
http://store.steampowered.com/universe/vr
http://www.theverge.com/2015/3/27/8300245/valve-htc-vive-vr-headset-free-development-kit-application
