Samsung Odyssey+ heavily discounted amid rumors of new headset
It's the cheapest way to get into VR before Half-Life: Alyx releases.

What you need to know
- The Samsung Odyssey+ is one of the best WMR headsets around and is selling for over 50% off right now.
- Samsung is likely selling off stock in preparation for a next-generation Odyssey, patents reveal.
- This next-generation Samsung Odyssey features double the cameras and a brand new external design.
If you've ever bought a new car before, you know the best kind to get is the previous model year. While it's not the newest release on the block, it's still a brand-new product, and it's a heck of a lot cheaper. That same concept applies to the Samsung Odyssey+ Windows Mixed Reality headset, which is now sitting at a healthy 50% price reduction (opens in new tab) at Samsung.com. Engadget spotted the price drop, and now it's up to you to take advantage of this deal if you've been sitting on the fence about jumping into VR before Half-Life: Alyx debuts in less than two months.
The Samsung Odyssey+ is one of the best Windows Mixed Reality (WMR) headsets around, and it comes with full support for SteamVR. That's particularly important since more VR games are found on Steam than any other platform. It's also the home of Half-Life: Alyx, which is likely going to be the biggest VR title ever released. So what merits a price drop from $499 to $229? It's entirely likely that Samsung has a third-generation Odyssey headset in the works and could be releasing it very shortly if rumors and patents have anything to say about it.
Two patents for a seemingly next-generation Samsung Odyssey XR HMD appeared on China's regulatory website, first spotted by 91Mobiles. The fact that Samsung is heavily dropping the price of the Odyssey+ amid these new findings certainly seems to suggest that the release of this possible new headset could be imminent.
Right now, details on this new headset are light, but the patents give us enough information to speculate. Four cameras can be found inside the compound eye-style front. That's a two-camera improvement over the current Odyssey+ and likely matches functionality with headsets like the Oculus Quest and Oculus Rift S. It's also got a significant head strap redesign that looks even more comfortable than what's on the current-generation Samsung Odyssey+.
The platforms supported are unknown. However, it wouldn't be surprising to see Samsung release another Windows Mixed Reality headset, given the platform is still going strong and has the support of popular gaming engines like Unity. WMR headsets also fully support SteamVR and can be used like any other SteamVR-compatible headset, opening up owners to a vast library of VR titles from the get-go.
WMR, SteamVR, great VR
Samsung's Odyssey+ is one of the best Windows Mixed Reality headsets around, but did you know it also works perfectly with SteamVR? It's a great way to get into VR for less, and it's the cheapest way you can play Half-Life: Alyx.
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Nick started with DOS and NES and uses those fond memories of floppy disks and cartridges to fuel his opinions on modern tech. Whether it's VR, smart home gadgets, or something else that beeps and boops, he's been writing about it since 2011. Reach him on Twitter or Instagram @Gwanatu
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Kind of wish MS would allow vive/steam vr controllers to be natively used with WMR. Visuals on the Odyssey+ are great, but the controllers are ok at best.
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Can't do that. The controller tracking tech goes hand in hand with the headset tracking. You can't just use anything else. The same goes the other way around. Even with the Vive Cosmos or Rift S you couldn't do it (at least without major recoding of very basic things).
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Actually you can use vive controllers with steam/viveport games with a WMR headset. Requires a little bit of work, but it works from what I read/seen. Just rather have native (using base stations of course). Methods like https://github.com/pushrax/OpenVR-SpaceCalibrator exist and seem to work for the most part.
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"But no, WMR is dead"
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As long as it works with SteamVR there is plenty of life in the HMD. If it were just a Microsoft product it would be dead.
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The new one looks slick reminds me of Ant Man for some reason.
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More than 2 cameras would require quite an update (2.0?) of WMR for the extra cameras to be useful. I was doubting that WMR would ever be updated after this long with no news but we'll see. The tracking was damn good with only 2 cameras so if they do update to support more than 2 it would be an intriguing update.