Valve will have "far fewer" Index VR headsets ready for Half-Life Alyx than predicted

[WYP]

Valve will have "far fewer" Index VR headsets ready for Half-Life Alyx than predicted

The Coronavirus epidemic strikes again.



Read more about Valve's Index VR headset production being impacted by Coronavirus.

 

[NeverBackDown]

It's been called Covid-19 for like 11 days now. It makes me think Valve is making it up because they should know the situation if they are in touch with the factories... not that I see them lying but at the same time I feel like many companies around me are blaming Covid-19 just as a convenient excuse to charge more... Supply and demand and whantot.

 

[WYP]

It's been called Covid-19 for like 11 days now. It makes me think Valve is making it up because they should know the situation if they are in touch with the factories... not that I see them lying but at the same time I feel like many companies around me are blaming Covid-19 just as a convenient excuse to charge more... Supply and demand and whantot.

A lot of manufacturing supply chains are linked with China somewhere, and it takes time to realise that a supplier has issues. If one factory can't get parts, it can't finish its work etc etc. Even if the factory you work with isn't in an affected area, its supplier could be. Get a few delayed orders and things can get tricky.

I'm guessing that a lot of people through that this Coronvirus stuff would blow over quickly and that it wouldn't impact production for very long. IIRC, Apple has already lowered its revenue forecasts over this.

With Valve sellings its headsets directly to consumers, they can't really get away with price gouging. If they make the price higher, they are the only ones to blame.

 

[grec]

Well I can confirm our manufacturers in Shenzhen have been forced to shut down for a fair few weeks and our contacts there have had to work from home keeping us updated, initially they expected the shutdown to last little more than a week, all our Chinese contacts refer to it simply as coronavirus as it's unambiguous what they're referring, and from the sounds of it this had impacted a majority of the factories in Shenzhen ("The Chinese silicon valley") for at least a couple of weeks.

 

[Warchild]

Amazing how they have it made in China, but cannot ship or provide it in online stores like Norway

 

[Dicehunter]

It's been called Covid-19 for like 11 days now. It makes me think Valve is making it up because they should know the situation if they are in touch with the factories... not that I see them lying but at the same time I feel like many companies around me are blaming Covid-19 just as a convenient excuse to charge more... Supply and demand and whantot.

Considering most of the 21st centuries viral epidemics keep coming from China I hope companies eventually move production elsewhere until China cleans up its act.

 

[grec]

Considering most of the 21st centuries viral epidemics keep coming from China I hope companies eventually move production elsewhere until China cleans up its act.

This isn't true, there have been 2 viral epidemics coming out of China in the 21st century, this is a fraction compared to India and not far off us in the UK, most viral epidemics have come out of Africa(Because of much of the climate & environment being a perfect breeding ground for pathogens). China has got an incredibly impressive record for control and nipping these issues in the bud before they go viral considering their climate, natural environment, population size and density, and when we're still having 21st century measles epidemics in the fairly cold and arid UK because of anti-vax nutters and YouTube crazes I don't think we can be talking down to China on this one.