Another Consequence of the Coronavirus
The Coronavirus has been a continuous, wide-spread disaster for a slowly expanding chunk of the populace for weeks now. Convention appearances are being cancelled, tournaments are being shut down, and now manufacturing is being affected. The Valve Index is in short supply and expected to stay that way, as yet another consequence of the Coronavirus continuing to spread.
Valve released an official statement on the matter this week, noting that “we are working hard to meet demand for the Valve Index and want to reassure everyone that Index systems will be available for purchase prior to the game’s launch.” This was immediately followed by the admission that “we will have far fewer units for sale during the coming months compared to the volumes we originally planned.”
All of these delays represent the outer edges of an extremely serious problem. While we only catch the production interruptions, missed appearances, and vanished tournaments on our end, the death toll is slowly rising out east. The amount of daily new cases is slowly diminishing, but it might be some time before that number tapers off to nothing. In the interim, various intricate systems will be disrupted and people will continue to die. The Valve Index and Half-Life: Alyx are coming out on March 23rd, 2020.