There are increasing signs that Valve is preparing a series of major announcements for mid-November.
VR industry researcher Brad Lynch (known as SadlyItsBradley) reported that Valve plans to unveil a new device as early as November 12. According to him, the company intends to "simply announce" the device next Wednesday, and details and the start of pre-orders may follow in one to two weeks.
This refers to the presentation of the Valve Deckard VR headset, which was reported earlier. In October, the Chinese research group XR Research Institute stated that the device had entered mass production, and the annual production could be from 400 to 600 thousand units. This information was then confirmed by insiders Tyler McVicker and Brad Lynch himself.
Lynch clarified in his Discord that the information came "from several sources at different times." This data coincides with his previous hints at Valve's activity in mid-November, as well as with the observation of a user nicknamed sameseksure, who drew attention to an unusual gap in the Steam event schedule from November 18 to December 8. The community considers this period a convenient window for a major announcement.
It is expected that Valve will repeat the scenario of 2019, when Half-Life: Alyx was presented along with Index. Rumor has it that the company is preparing a new project in the Half-Life universe, developed specifically for the capabilities of Deckard. McVicker previously noted that the trailer for the next game in the series is already in production. At the same time, different versions appear in leaks — from Half-Life 3 to a separate VR project Half-Life X, but the totality of messages around Deckard indicates the preparation of a new game specifically for this device.
Valve itself has not officially commented on the possible announcement and has not confirmed the existence of the Deckard headset, so all this information should be taken with caution. The situation should become clearer in the coming days.
