UPDATE: Shadow Creator has now provided images of the 6DoF controllers

At HTC’s Vive event the company announced the ‘Shadow VR’ standalone headset from Chinese company ‘Shadow Creator’.

The Shadow VR headset should become the first standalone consumer VR headset with 6DoF controllers, beating Oculus Quest to market by over six months. It runs the mobile version of HTC’s Viveport VR app store, and launches “worldwide” Nov. 11 for $399.

The headset uses a 1440p (2560×1440) display, the same resolution as the Oculus Go and Lenovo Mirage Solo. The lenses are fresnels with a claimed field of view of 110°. The system on a chip (SoC) used is the same Snapdragon 835 used in the Vive Focus and Oculus Quest.

HTC tells us that Shadow VR is equipped with 6DoF controllers which Shadow Creator developed on its own. No details were given on the controller tracking other than to say that it uses “ray tracing”, but the images seem to suggest that the two cameras on the headset track the colored lines on the orb at the top of the controllers. HTC is working on 6DoF controllers of its own for the Vive Focus, but these are different.

Because the headset runs HTC’s Viveport (the mobile version) it should have all the same apps and games as are available for the Vive Focus, and all app purchases should transfer between the devices. Most content currently on Viveport mobile, however, is made around the Vive Focus’ 3DoF controller, so it’s not clear how much of the store’s content will take advantage of Shadow VR’s 6DoF controllers.

HTC is not involved in the hardware of Shadow VR but it does run on the Vive Wave platform, so HTC would take the store cut from all Viveport sales. This is the same strategy that Google is taking with the Lenovo Mirage Solo Daydream standalone VR headset, which only has one 3DoF hand controller (with developers being able to request a special 6DoF add-on kit).

Chart Based On Information Available As Of November 8th 2018

We’ve reached out to HTC to see if we can get any more information about this headset and we’ll update this post if we learn more.