On what date did the original HTC Vive become available to consumers?

The original HTC Vive became available to consumers on April 5, 2016.

HTC developed the headset in partnership with Valve, whose SteamVR platform supplied software and tracking technology. The consumer system used two Lighthouse base stations to track the headset and controllers across a room, making room-scale VR one of its defining features.

The launch date is sometimes confused with announcement and preorder dates. HTC and Valve unveiled the Vive earlier, and preorders opened before shipments began. April 5, 2016 marks consumer availability of the first retail model rather than the later Vive Pro, Vive Cosmos, or other members of HTC’s headset family.

The original Vive competed directly with the Oculus Rift, which also reached consumers in 2016. Both products helped establish PC-based room-scale VR as a major consumer category, although they required powerful computers and external tracking equipment.