Valve, HP and Microsoft are working on a VR headset together

Valve, HP and Microsoft are working together on a next-generation VR headset for SteamVR and Windows Mixed Reality.

The HP Reverb G2, as it seems likely to be called, seems to have come out of the blue with no previous rumours of such a device being in the works. Instead, a brief press release has given away a few basic details including the fact that these three major companies are collaborating. 

A short 15 second teaser video also included the press release and it looks...interesting. Ok, it's hard to see fully and what you can see looks a lot like any other VR headset, most notably the HP Reverb before it. Still, look a bit closer and things look more interesting. It appears that the HP Reverb G2 has at least two cameras on its front which we guess would tie into the idea stemming from the announcement that it's going to deliver a better VR experience than ever before. It also looks like the headphones hover just off to the side of the headset, much like the Valve Index offers.

Anyone with any experience with VR will also know that headsets aren't the comfiest of things to wear but the press release has already made mention of delivering 'a more immersive, comfortable, and compatible experience than the previous generation', all of which sounds quite promising. 

It's far too early days for any word on a price or a release date, and we're guessing if we're at the teaser stage of things, it's probably going to be a while, but this could be good. More competition within the VR field is needed with prices still high and general accessibility far from convenient. There's also the not so small matter that anything being developed by HP, Valve and Microsoft immediately sounds promising because how often do such heavyweights team up together? 

At a time when virtual reality is at its most appealing thanks to games like Half Life: Alyx, this could be an interesting turning point for the fascinating if awkward technology. 

Touted as a 'no compromises' headset, it seems fairly likely this will be a premium VR headset so maybe start saving those pennies now. Expect to learn more about it over the coming months.