A Chinese analyst group called XR Research Institute has claimed that the next Valve Virtual Reality headset has already entered production and will ship this year, with an estimated initial order of 400K-600K units in the first year.
The news has been reported by UploadVR and confirmed by Valve leakers Tyler McVicker and Brad Lynch (SadlyItsBradley). The latter also tweeted that two VR headset models, Deckard DV1 and Deckard DV2, have appeared in the latest SteamVR beta update. According to Valve's nomenclature, DV units are supposedly the final stage of in-development hardware before retail units, which are labeled 'PV'.
This suggests two headsets could be coming instead of just one, or at least two SKUs. Either way, the previous rumor that Valve's second Virtual Reality headset, Deckard, would launch in late 2025 seems much more likely now. That rumor pointed to a $1200 price tag, which remains unconfirmed by other leakers at this time.
Deckard will be Valve's second attempt with Virtual Reality following the Index, which launched in June 2019 at $999. The Index also got a so-called killer application: its purchase came with a free copy of Half-Life: Alyx, the first new installment (albeit technically a prequel) in the series in a long time. Half-Life: Alyx was long considered the gold standard when it comes to triple-A Virtual Reality games, but even that was not enough to really sell consumers on the Index. As of January 2025, only 13.2% of the VR headsets connected to the Steam platform were Index devices, as revealed by the Steam Hardware & Software Survey.
Has Valve prepared another new game to try and boost the sales of its upcoming Deckard VR headset? Either way, we should know soon. Brad Lynch seems to think an official announcement could come either this month or the next one.
About the author: With over two decades of experience in gaming journalism, Alessio Palumbo has led the gaming vertical at Wccftech since August 2015. He started working at a young age for Italian websites like Everyeye.it, Gamestar.it, Nextgame.it, and Multiplayer.it before kickstarting the indie English-language publication Worlds Factory as its founder and Editor in Chief. In the last decade, he has coordinated the overall output of Wccftech's gaming section, managed PR relations, assigned reviews, produced daily news coverage, edited gaming content as needed, and delivered game reviews. Arguably, his trademark content is the long series of exclusive developer interviews that have been cited by Wikipedia and by the biggest news media and gaming publications. His passion for technology also makes him knowledgeable when it comes to gaming hardware and tech. His favorite genres include RPGs, MMORPGs, and action/adventure games.
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