When HTC announced Vive, the virtual reality headset it built with Valve, we suspected that it wouldn't be the last manufacturer to announce a visor running the SteamVR platform.
We've been hearing mumblings from sources that more are being worked on from different manufacturers. Further to that, this week Bossa Studios, who have been developing on HTC's headset since last year, told us that while HTC is building the Lighthouse technology (that's Valve's room-tracking system) using Valve's patents, it's open for other people to make their own peripherals.
Valve also just confirmed as much to Engadget, saying that there are "more headsets to come."
"You should think of the Vive as the first in the same way there are multiple Steam Machines," said Valve head Gabe Newell. "We're building tools and hopefully they're valuable to hardware partners who want to do it. In some cases, we'll take the leadership role in shipping stuff. But we're really just building tools for other people to continue. So you'll see more headsets."
It's hardly a surprise when you consider Valve is a company that likes sharing its tools as widely as possible. Trust us when we say Vive is amazing, but we expect there will be plenty more SteamVR headsets to come soon.
This week we also got to see the final lineup of Steam Machines as well as Valve's finalised Steam Controller. The plan is to ship these in November and the HTC Vive around the same time. Will we see more Steam VR headsets then, too? Here's hoping.
- Hands on with the HTC Vive
