HTC Vive coming with “very big” VR breakthrough

22 Dec 2015

HTC Vive via Wikimedia Commons

HTC’s much anticipated VR headset was supposed to be available by now. But the delay, pushing the release well into next year, is due to “a very, very big technological breakthrough”.

Speaking at a developers’ forum for the fairly secretive VR headset, HTC CEO Cher Wang said that this “very big” development is reason enough to not just delay the release, but actually come out with an entirely different, second-generation device.

That’s before the first ever got to market.

“We shouldn’t make our users swap their systems later just so we could meet the December shipping date,” she said, with the full announcement due at CES next month.

Last month, the company said the delays were due to “developing immersive content, refining both hardware design and user experience, and building relationships with new partners both inside and outside of the gaming industry.”

As yet, pricing is not yet revealed, with HTC – which is working alongside Valve to get this product to market – up against it with both Oculus and Sony likely to release their devices in the mean time.

This basically means that HTC needs to bring out a device that blows away the opposition, with Wang hoping for a far more immersive experience thanks to whatever it is this breakthrough is.

“Why would I buy a handicapped product? You won’t like it,” said Wang, who also revealed that Audi will stock the devices in showrooms to offer customers a VR test drive. That seems really weird.

Gordon Hunt was a journalist with Silicon Republic

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