Valve has quietly announced a new VR headset called the Valve Index

In a surprise move on Friday night, Valve sneakily added a new sale page to Steam with a teaser for their long-rumoured new VR headset, confirming in one fell swoop that is indeed real, and, better yet, it could be coming out as soon as May 2019. 

The teaser image doesn’t reveal too much about the headset other than giving us a simple glimpse at Index, accompanied by the line “Upgrade your experience” - how elusive. Could this indicate it’s going to be a high-end VR entry? If so it will no doubt cost a pretty penny, but we’ll have to wait and see. Alongside that, we of course also have what appears to be a release date of “May 2019” stated below. 

While Valve has dipped its toe into the world of VR before by collaborating with HTC to create the HTC Vive, this will be Valve’s first solo entry into the world of VR.

It’s been a big time for the world of VR recently, with Valve’s announcement coming hot off the heels of Nintendo’s recent foray into the virtual world with its Nintendo Labo VR kit. 

I'm intrigued to know just how much this headset will cost and what place it has in the burgeoning market of headsets to set it apart from the rest. All we know for sure at the moment is we’ll find out more in May. 

Heather Wald
Senior staff writer

I started out writing for the games section of a student-run website as an undergrad, and continued to write about games in my free time during retail and temp jobs for a number of years. Eventually, I earned an MA in magazine journalism at Cardiff University, and soon after got my first official role in the industry as a content editor for Stuff magazine. After writing about all things tech and games-related, I then did a brief stint as a freelancer before I landed my role as a staff writer here at 12DOVE. Now I get to write features, previews, and reviews, and when I'm not doing that, you can usually find me lost in any one of the Dragon Age or Mass Effect games, tucking into another delightful indie, or drinking far too much tea for my own good.