SteamVR development kits will be free for developers of all sizes, for a little while at least. A spokesperson for Valve told Ars Technica that the development kit will be free for all developers during the headsets early life; this is completely different to the Oculus Rift which is charge developers to use their platform.
Already several developers have been reportedly given development kits including Bossa Studios the developers of the infamous Surgeon Simulator and I am Bread. Another developer the kit has been given to is Owlchemy Labs creators of the recently released Dycourse and also Job Simulator which was the first steamVR game to be announced.
The website for signing up to receive a developers kit could be live as early as nest week which is certain to attract many small and large developers who may of had an interest in getting a foothold into VR headsets; especially those wanting the challenge of developing a VR game.
The current hope is to get the sign-up site up and running next week
There has currently been no clarification on the number of developer kits available or who will take precedence in receiving a kit, also it is unclear just how many waves of free developer kits there will be. Steam has a history with Independent developers so there is some speculation that small groups will take precedence over larger companies though nothing is yet certain.
SteamVR is also not going to be made available to the general public before it’s official completion and release; developers who get the development kit will be receiving the headset, two controllers and two base stations.
The SteamVR is still currently on route for a release in November this year along side the Valve streaming box that will allow users to stream their Steam games to another room. Valve has been working alongside the mobile phone developer HTC to produce the VR headset.