HTC sets Vive headset pre-order launch date

HTC's chief executive has a date for the calendar of anyone interested in the company's upcoming Vive virtual reality headset: pre-orders are set to open on the 29th of February.

HTC's Vive, developed in partnership with game publishing giant Valve as the flagship device for its virtual reality platform, was unveiled back in March 2015 with plans to release hardware before the end of the year. Sadly, the project ran into some last-minute hiccoughs that caused that deadline to be missed with a reschedule to early 2016. That delay gave competitor Oculus VR a window of opportunity, which it nimbly exploited when it opened pre-orders earlier this month with HTC and Valve still silent on their own launch plans.

HTC chief executive Cher Wang, though, has finally broken the company's silence. Speaking in an interview with The Telegraph, Wang confirmed that pre-orders for the device - which will come bundled with a motion control system - will open on the 29th of February, though pricing information was not disclosed.

The first retail HTC Vive bundles are expected to arrive in April, shortly after Oculus Rift headsets being dropping in late March, barring any further unexpected delays.