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" Now…this is interesting and has some interesting implications.
"They’re made in the USA because Valve themselves make them.
"VIVEPORT | VR Games, Apps, & Videos.
"To quote the relevant bit, from the above forum (as per stated by HTC themselves):
Valve actually physically manufacturers 2.0 basestations, not HTC.
"Furthermore the rep goes on to say,
While you can array 4 lighthouses via the beta branch, it’s not really a consumer ready UX as of this post hence why it’s beta branched.
"At the time of post (July 2018) this would have been quite correct.
"As per another statement, from Valve themselves these things are stupidly overpriced by HTC yet again.
"https://www.roadtovr.com/developers-now-receiving-steamvr-2-0-base-stations/
Valve further said OEMs will be able to order the 2.0 base stations in bulk (at $60/unit + shipping) from Valve and repackage them as part of their products
"So consider that 16,630 yen is about $152 that’s some markup for a bit of re-packaging.
"So…what am I getting at here? Well…Valve have clearly come out of beta for these to have quietly gone on sale through HTC. They wouldn’t be available for purchase if it still was, I’m also guessing this is a soft launch through HTC and is probably testing the Japanese market because that’s where the Pro has sold the best (at least according to other reports I;ve seen).
"But that is not why I’m now excited. It means Valve is moving towards stage two of selling direct (and at much cheaper prices I would assume). Lighthouse 2.0 is ready for them to sell direct and it seems Knuckles is not far behind if reviewers (according to other things I;ve read) have started to receive sets.
"So…seems more and more likely GDC will be the announcement point for Knuckles if not Valves complete headset package. I’m sure the nay-sayers will say otherwise but I’ll be watching closely and whilst I do want to err on the side of caution, I’ll be shocked if we are not given information and release dates. Where fast approaching end game for Valve with 2.0 and being able to ditch HTC.
"After some additional hind thought I’m going to add this edit:
"1) Just to pre-empt any of the said nay saying “other guys” trolls we have on the forum (been here too long to not see certain comments coming) , if you want to know why Valve themselves are not currently selling the 2.0 lighthouse units directly (outside of the SteamVR partnership program) please point me towards the product Valve has released that supports them? Selling a single peripheral for a single piece of hardware (Vive Pro) that a 3rd party manufactures doesnt make much sense. Much better to let HTC re-package and re-distribute in a limited market for now (for testing purposes) and launch a whole supported product range when you are ready.
"2) This is gonna be good for VR! Especially if Valve can get a complete package out at a much more palatable entry level price.
"If Valve can sell the lighthouse units for $60 each (or there about) and are targeting a price for Knuckles which is akin to what the price of a set of Touch or Win Mr controllers is ($100 for a set) not only are HTC fucked but it bodes well for overall pricing. I fully expect Valve to take a bit of a hit on each headset which they’ll absorb in software sales. No doubt Valve are banking on big adoption rates (especially if they’re pumping cash into 3 AAA titles) and they have to already know one of the biggest barriers is the current price. I certainly dont see them selling packages for more than the Rifts current price of $350. I’d guess they’ll be targeting much lower pricing to be honest as they’ll be focused solely on gamers buying more content on Steam. As such Oculus may be forced to slash their prices even more. Valve hasn’t had to sink the cash into VR Oculus has, is launching hardware into a eco system that already has enough content to maintain itself rather than grow from scratch and as a private company, has no shareholders to be accountable to. I dont expect Valve to give the things away but if they’re capable of manufacturing a complete headset package for say, $400 parts and labour (in their very automated plant in Illinois), they could absorb a big chunk of that price and recoup it through software sales.
“GDC may well be bigger than any of us can imagine and it might well be that 2019 really is the year VR kicks off to the masses. Here’s hoping!”
Now to my commentary.
Luckily, since it appears that the PiMax lighthouses are only slightly rebadged Lighthouse 2.0’s, they may soon have access to purchase them for redistributing to backers/preorderers.
Ultimately it appears PiMax has decided to hold off shipping these until the PiGrips (PiMax Knuckes which I will misname every time from here on out) are tested and ready, ultimately placing them as the bottleneck.
With that said, the new question is this: Will PiMax ship just the Lighthouses and PiHands to those who bought, or are they still going to wait for other things as well, such as Audio Strap? Since the trackers and PiPalms are basically ‘their own product’, that seems like it has a shipping schedule of it’s own, and most of the verbage used seems to back up, I’m pretty hopeful that they will be shipped out as the PiPips (Pips are ‘knuckles’ between the outermost and second segment of the finger) are completing manufacturing.
And just for good measure; PiPaws, PiGrips, PiPortals.
