Source: Windows Central
What you need to know
- The Vive Pro is being discontinued for consumers and will be replaced by the new Vive Cosmos SKUs.
- The Vive Focus is being discontinued in favor of the Vive Focus Plus for standalone enterprise needs.
- HTC is adding new Vive Pro Eye SKUs to provide for additional enterprise functionality.
HTC is clearing up its rather convoluted lineup of VR headsets with the announcement that it's discontinuing its Vive Pro and the Vive Focus headsets. This comes as a response to an email from Road to VR regarding the vast number of options HTC is selling and a request for clarity on future support. As of right now, HTC is officially selling or supporting a whopping 11 SKUs for its Vive products, including mutiple SKUs for the Vive Pro, Vive Cosmos, and Vive Focus.
The Vive Pro is being discontinued as a consumer product and planning to be sold exclusively to enterprise customers in the form of the Vive Pro Eye, Vive Pro Eye Office, and Vive Pro Eye Office Arena. Considering there are almost no consumer-level games or applications that utilize the unique eye-tracking capabilities of the Vive Pro Eye, this makes plenty of sense. HTC says it will continue selling the current Vive Pro at a reduced price until inventory is depleted.
Valve Index vs. HTC Vive Cosmos: Which should you buy?
The Vive Focus, similarly, is HTC's enterprise-grade standalone headset. That's a similar concept to the Oculus Quest, except the original Vive Focus didn't include 6DoF controllers that support full roomscale motion as the Oculus Quest does. HTC's follow-up, the Vive Focus Plus, includes these controllers in the package for $800 and will remain HTC's sole standalone VR solution for enterprises.
Source: HTC
Going forward, consumers have the Vive Cosmos to look forward to. While one SKU for the Cosmos is already being sold, three new SKUs will be coming into play in the very near future. All three new SKUs will include the same base model Vive Cosmos that's already being sold, with the difference residing in the modular attachments on the front of the Cosmos.
In total, HTC will have four Vive Cosmos SKUs when all is said and done: Vive Cosmos Play, Vive Cosmos, Vive Cosmos Elite, Vive Cosmos XR. Any Vive Cosmos unit can be upgraded by simply purchasing one of the modular faceplates, which will add the necessary cameras or tracking abilities to the Cosmos base unit. HTC also has a more futuristic Vive Proton coming later down the road, but there is no set release date at this time.
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