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HTC Vive Wireless Adapter will cost $300, launch in September

VR gamers looking to cut the cord with their PC will be able to preorder it from Sept. 5.

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Sean Keane Former Senior Writer
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Sean Keane
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HTC Vive and Vive Pro owners will be able to go wireless in September, but the latter will cost a little extra.

 Claudia Cruz/CNET

HTC said Tuesday that its Vive Wireless Adapter will cost $300, with preorders beginning on Sept. 5.

The adapter -- which comes out Sept. 24 -- works with Vive and Vive Pro virtual reality headsets, but the latter will require a compatibility pack that costs an additional $60, the company says in its blog.

That pack includes a connection cable for the Pro, foam padding and an attachment device.

You can install the adapter by attaching a sensor to the PC (using a PCI-e card slot) that broadcasts to and from the Vive headset. It's powered by a HTC QC 3.0 PowerBank with a 2.5-hour battery life, but you can buy more than one.

 All purchases of the adapter include a two-month trial to Viveport, a subscription service to play VR apps. US customers can preorder from Amazon , Best Buy , Microsoft , NewEgg and Vive.com.

"Since the first demos of Vive, we've known that to deliver on the best of premium VR, we wanted it to be wireless," said Daniel O'Brien, HTC Vive's general manager for the US, in a statement. 

"But we learned that delivering a great wireless experience takes time and really smart partners. We've brought the engineering expertise together to deliver a truly first of its kind wireless VR experience. Thanks to Intel and DisplayLink for helping to make this vision a reality."

CNET's Scott Stein tried out the wireless adapter at CES earlier this year and noted that there might be "a lot to keep charging" between the adapter and game controllers.

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