Valve is allegedly engaged on wi-fi VR headset codenamed ‘Deckard’

Valve is allegedly engaged on a brand new VR headset after the Valve Index, or no less than in line with investigators who’ve found references to a brand new headset prototype throughout the SteamVR code. If the rumors are true, this new headset is a standalone that will work with no PC.

The details about this upcoming headset comes from VR YouTuber Brad Lynch, who experiences that members of his group found a number of references to one thing codenamed “Deckard” within the SteamVR code. He then cross-referenced that title with Valve’s latest patents, and supposedly discovered a number of references to the headset having an inner processor and presumably antennas that can permit it to connect with WiFi, suggesting it’s a standalone headset.

The existence of a brand new Valve headset was later corroborated by insiders to Ars Technica, which claimed a brand new headset was being labored on by Valve, however is probably going nowhere close to a industrial launch. Ars’ sources additionally recommend that Valve is engaged on some type of inner monitoring in order that future headsets gained’t require base stations to work.

Valve already has an in-house VR headset, the Index, which offered out shortly earlier than the discharge of Half-Life Alyx. So the concept that it’s making one other one isn’t an outlandish one. Additionally, one of many greatest benefits of its hottest competitors, the Oculus Quest 2, is that it doesn’t must be tethered to a strong PC with a view to operate. The outline of Lynch’s proof isn’t clear as as to whether the headset shall be actually standalone or nonetheless wants a PC however could be hooked up to it wirelessly.

On condition that Valve is delivery out the Steam Deck in a couple of months, it’s doubtless the corporate will deal with the success of that machine earlier than making an attempt to launch or reveal anything. However on condition that the corporate is making a PC that may match right into a handheld machine, it wouldn’t be an excessive amount of of a stretch for them to provide a standalone headset.