HTC Vive VR Headset Will Be Available In ‘Limited Quality’ By Year’s End

If you’ve been itching to get your hands on HTC’s elusive Vive VR headset, PAX Prime could be your best bet. The Penny Arcade Expo is underway today in Seattle and it’s packed with gaming goodness, including several of HTC’s VR headsets. HTC and Valve will be showing off some new titles for the headset at PAX Prime, and news about the headset’s release date is slowly trickling out.

Sadly, the news thus far is that only a small number of Vives will be available before the end of the year. A note on the HTC Vive site reads “Consumer product available holiday 2015,” but HTC has been getting the word out this week that it will be a “limited” quantity and that customers should expect the virtual reality headset to appear in greater numbers in the first quarter of 2016. That has to be as disappointing for HTC and Valve (who teamed up with HTC on the Vive) as it is for those of us who saw the Vive as this year’s holiday tech gift.

HTC and Valve are demoing two new titles for the Vive at PAX Prime: Final Approach and Fantastic Contraption. Final Approach features Phaser Lock Interactive’s interesting take on air traffic control, while Fantastic Contraption is the VR revival of a popular game that’s been around since 2008. The demos for those games are taking place at the Valve suite at the Sheraton hotel.


PAX Prime goes can also check out the Vive at the World Tour truck, which will be at 8th and Pine near PAX Prime. HTC has been taking the trucks to various cities are part of a marketing push for the Vive. The truck at PAX Prime will have 20-minute demo loops featuring several VR games and experiences.