Vive Unveils New Accessories and Subscription Service at CES

Vive is kicking off a huge presence at CES 2017, by introducing two new accessories and new services that will lay the foundation of the VR ecosystem for years to come. 

If you’re a current or future VR owner, there are a lot of things to be thankful for this New Year. Available in Q2 2017, the Vive Tracker and Vive Deluxe Audio Strap are all new accessories that will greatly enhance your Vive experience, and we’re expecting wireless accessories to be available in 2017.  In addition, Viveport will be launching a subscription service as well as app stores for arcade and enterprise customers in early 2017, ensuring you’ll have many options to access the best content on Vive that matters to you.

Let’s start off with the hardware news:

• The Vive Tracker, available in Q2 this year, enables motion tracking for entirely new form factors within the VR world. It is the the foundation for building a new accessories ecosystem for  Vive.  In fact, there are many partners in our space at CES showing off their Vive Tracker integrations including multiple rifles built for VR shooters, a baseball bat, a firehose and haptic gloves for a truly immersive VR experience.  We’ll be showing you a sneak peek at some of these apps and products during our Live Stream happening both Thursday and Friday from 12-2pm PST.  At its core, the Vive Tracker will integrate with any number of future VR accessories via a simple connection, ensuring developers and consumers will have a single accessory to unlock thousands of new experiences .  The Tracker weighs just under three ounces (90g) and is 99.65mm (Diameter) x 42.27mm (Height).

• The Vive Deluxe Audio Strap is designed with adjustable headphones, allowing you to enjoy even more comfort and convenience.   The headstrap features integrated headphones and a new customizable sizing dial for quickly adjusting the fit of the headstrap, ensuring a tighter and more comfortable fit.   The Deluxe Audio Strap will also be available in Q2. Pricing for both the Tracker and Deluxe Audio Strap will be announced soon.

• Wireless and VR  -We showcased a product many of you may have heard about recently from TPCast, a wireless adaptor which was incubated through the Vive X accelerator program. It includes a one and a half hour battery, and latency as low as 2ms. TPCast will be shipping in Q2 2017 and will retail for $249 USD.

Now that you have this great hardware, what are you going to do with it?  We’ve got you covered with some exciting things coming up from Viveport as well amazing content from Vive Studios and more than 30 partners showcasing content in our CES space.

• In early 2017, Viveport will be launching a subscription service to help you navigate and find the best VR apps in the world, as well as introduce a new channel through which VR developers can monetize their content. There are currently thousands of apps available on Vive globally. Viveport’s subscription service will help people navigate this growing marketplace and discover new apps, providing access to an ever-growing library of content for a low monthly fee. More details will be announced soon.
• Viveport also announced at CES that it is expanding services for enterprise VR customers and arcade operators by launching dedicated VR app stores for professionals in 2017. Viveport is evolving the Viveport Arcade platform announced last November to create a digital storefront that can distribute VR content to businesses globally. The app store is designed for arcades, cinemas, amusement parks and other location-based entertainment centers eager to introduce their customers to VR. The rapid expansion of VR into arcades is creating an important touch point for people to experience high-end VR for the first time.

• Lastly, Viveport’s dedicated enterprise app store will target a different set of customers. Some of the biggest industrial sectors are quickly adopting VR, led by major categories such as healthcare, engineering, real estate and retail. Viveport’s enterprise app store will both curate content for enterprise customers and support developers leveraging the immersion of VR to create apps and tools for professionals in areas such as medicine, architecture, design, 3D modeling and workforce training.
• VR fans and existing Viveport customers can sign-up today to be the first to get invited to a free trial of the subscription service when it launches at http://www.viveport.com.

2017 will be a great year for VR.  At Vive, we’re laying a strong foundation for how VR will grow for years to come.  Keep an eye out on this blog and our Facebook and Twitter channels for more great news this week.