It might not have officially revealed anything yet, but multiple leaks and rumors strongly suggest that Valve has some kind of VR headset on the way soon – and right now we know it as the Valve Deckard.
Some of those claims are older, some more recent, and it’s becoming difficult to keep track of everything that’s been rumored – so we’ve gathered everything we’ve heard so far about the Valve Deckard here.
Bear in mind – and we’ll remind you throughout this article – that, as with all leaks and rumors, you should take these details with a pinch of salt, and until Valve makes an official Deckard announcement there’s no telling what it could have in store for us.
With that warning out the way, here’s what we know about Valve Deckard, including its possible price, specs, and release window.
1. Deckard likely won’t be cheap
Valve has yet to even announce the Deckard, let alone reveal pricing, but leaks suggest it could be pricey, with a Valve Deckard bundle costing $1,200 (around £900 / AU$1,850).
That bundle would include the headset itself, a few ‘in-house’ games, and a pair of the new ‘Roy’ controllers – more on those in a minute.
Despite it costing three or four times as much as a Meta Quest 3S, and more than the Valve Index, which was $999 / £919 (around AU$1,550) at launch, the source for this leak, content creator Gabe Follower, says the hardware will be sold at a loss.
Even if those claims are in the ballpark, given the ongoing global tariff uncertainty we could see Valve adjust its original pricing plans – but it’s probably safe to assume that the Deckard won’t be cheap.
That said, it is rumored to be an impressive device…
2. The Deckard is “quite amazing” standalone hardware
Gabe Follower said Valve wants “to give the user the best possible experience without cutting any costs,” and Stan Larroque – the founder of Lynx, which created the inventive Lynx R1 headset we tried out back in 2023 – described the headset as “quite amazing.”
This is supported by details such as the headset reportedly being able to double as a wearable Steam Deck, again according to leaks.
We’ve also heard that it’ll be a standalone device – so, like the Meta Quest 3, it’ll be able to run without being hooked up to a PC or console – and that it’ll support eye-tracking.
A leaked Valve Deckard concept (via Upload VR) boasted 2K LCD panels for its display setup, and was powered by a SnapDragon 8 Gen 3 – the same chipset as the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra.
That chipset is newer than the one in the Meta Quest 3, which suggests the Valve Deckard will benefit from a power boost.
3. Bye-bye knuckle controllers
Progression of Valve Deckard’s Roy controllers from prototype to mass production tooling (EV1 at least) pic.twitter.com/66VLcu5GuGNovember 26, 2024
The Valve Index impressed many thanks to its knuckle controllers that can individually track each of your fingers. It was this controller, and support for it in amazing titles such as Half-Life: Alyx that helped cement the Index as one of the best (if not the best) headset for PCVR.
Unfortunately, the Deckard’s rumored Roy controllers look like they’ll be a downgrade in some respects, as they look set to borrow the design made popular by the Meta Quest 3, Pico 4 Ultra and basically every other VR headset.
So they would have a more standard gamepad layout for their buttons, but wouldn’t require you to set up any base stations, and should be more intuitive to use for Steam Deck gameplay.
It’s unclear if the Deckard would support knuckle controllers if you have those and the base stations – our best guess is that PC SteamVR will, but standalone VR probably won’t.
4. A new Half-Life is (maybe) coming
When Valve launched the Index it made sure to get off on the right foot by also releasing Half-Life: Alyx, and Valve is rumored to be doing the same thing with a new Half-Life. It might even launch two new games in the series.
The first would reportedly be Half-Life: 3, though that’s not to say the long-awaited threequel will be a VR exclusive. Instead, it might be playable on Deckard via its Steam Deck-like abilities.
The other, said to be codenamed Half-Life: X, would be a co-op adventure with a PC player. They would play as Gordon Freeman, while the VR player would be Alyx Vance, and each character would have their own story, with shared cooperative elements (via Road to VR).
Apparently these games are in the later stages of development (again according to Gabe Follower), though of all the leaks here it’s the one I’m least confident about.
I believe that where there’s smoke there’s fire, and I’d put money on a Half-Life game coming to Deckard one way or another. But, having seen conflicting rumors that we’re getting these two games; a single title which combines elements of both 3 and X; and simply a standalone port of Alyx, I’m not sure what Valve has in store – especially as rumors about the games appearing at various gaming showcases that have come and gone have proved incorrect.
For now we’ll just have to take everything we hear about Half-Life with a pinch of salt while we wait for Valve to make some kind of official announcement.
5. Is Deckard set for 2025 or 2026?
Lastly, and perhaps most importantly: when will the Valve Deckard launch?
A few signs point to it coming soon. Gabe Follower teased a 2025 launch, and details from SadlyItsBradley corroborate this rumor, as Valve has been taking delivery of many component and manufacturing machinery shipments related to VR.
However, other leaks point to a launch in late 2025, or even 2026.
Stan Larroque – who was able to comment on Deckard’s impressiveness because Valve is already sourcing components from suppliers Lynx also uses – told Road to VR that the Deckard wasn’t yet at the mass-production stage, and so was more likely set to land in 2026.
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hamish.hector@futurenet.com (Hamish Hector)
