Valve Deckard, a long-rumoured standalone VR headset, might not be too far off if these leaked shipping manifests are legit

There've certainly been a lot of Valve Deckard rumours over the last couple of years, but this one, at least, seems more tangible than previous ones referencing driver files and so on, because it's at least about something physical that's actually moving around in the world.

The word on the street according to prolific Deckard leaker SadlyItsBradley (via Notebookcheck) is that "Valve has been importing equipment to manufacture VR headset facial interfaces inside the USA. The equipment is being provided by Teleray Group who also manufactured the gaskets for the Valve Index and HP G2 Omnicept."

SadlyItsBradley is a YouTuber who talks all things VR and who has previously divulged VR leaks, some of which have been pretty spot-on, such as various ones about Meta Quest headsets. One such leak featured CAD drawings of the then-unannounced Meta Quest Pro, and this led to Meta cutting ties with the contractor that gave SadlyItsBradley this information.

According to a shipping manifest reported by the tech YouTuber, Valve's also been receiving shipments of face gaskets, these being the foam that sit around your eyes when you place a VR headset over your head.

All of this, if true, points towards Valve Deckard, a long-rumoured Valve headset said to be standalone, unlike the Valve Index which requires a PC to power it. The Index was a fantastic, top-tier headset when it launched, but that was almost six years ago, now. Tech has certainly moved on since then—the much cheaper Meta Quest 3 has a higher resolution, for instance.

So, some might say it's high time Valve released a new industry-busting VR headset. It would make sense for this to be a standalone Deckard given the market has shifted in this direction, not to mention the fact that Valve now has experience creating a cracking entry-level, value-oriented physical product in the form of the Steam Deck and Steam Deck OLED.

Late last year there was word that codename 'Roy' controllers for Deckard were being tooled for mass production, alongside a Steam Controller 2. Now, if these latest shipment and import rumours are true, there's even more reason to believe that a standalone VR headset from Valve could be right around the corner, though with Valve there's no telling how far away that corner really is (Half Life 3, anyone?).

SadlyItsBradley gives some interesting speculation, too, this being that Valve might be making these import moves to avoid any potential future US tariffs.

The latest on this front is that Trump's hit a pause on them for most countries except China, but things are so up-and-down right now that it's hard to tell what the future will hold. Valve might be smart to pre-empt anything and get its Deckard ducks in order nice and early.

We'll have to wait and see whether these rumours bear fruit, but if they do, we can be hopeful they'll be mighty tasty. Given Valve's recent record with physical tech, Deckard could be great news for prospective VR gamers. Here's hoping, anyway.

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