Valve announces the royalty-free licensing of Steam VR tracking for third-party hardware manufacturers. This is to boost the virtual reality ecosystem as they want to bring "new and innovative experiences for all VR customers." This is the tech behind their HTC Vive headsets, they are offering training and hardware to licensees. This page is home to the endeavor, and here's word:

Valve, creators of Steam, industry-leading virtual reality hardware and software, and several of the most popular online games on the Internet, today announces royalty-free licensing of SteamVR Tracking for 3rd-party hardware makers.

This tracking technology enables hardware developers to build highly precise position and orientation sensing into devices of all kinds. It is the same tracking technology currently being used in the HTC Vive, the most advanced virtual reality product on the market today. Valve expects the technology to be used in a variety of devices, such as VR peripherals and other input devices.

In-person training is being offered to the first wave of licensees, to help each device maker become acquainted with the technology. Online training materials and documentation are planned for a future release.

"It's critical to the future of the Virtual Reality Ecosystem to open up the tracking technology to support the growth of a healthy portfolio of products that work together with HTC VIVE," said Raymond Pao, HTC VR Vice President. "This is an amazing way to compliment the HTC Vive and spur further innovation in VR. We will also offer training in the Asia region in the coming months to support the adoption and licensing of SteamVR Tracking. We're thrilled to see the world of tracked devices expanding and growing."

Alan Yates, Valve Engineer, said "Making this tracking technology available to more partners is an extremely important step in the evolution of virtual reality and 3D tracking. We are very confident that doing so will result in new and innovative experiences for all VR customers."

A hardware development kit including a reference tracked device, sensors, and software tools to help design and build new devices is being made available to each licensee.

For details, including specific dates, Dev Kit contents, and the training curriculum, please visit http://steamvr.com/tracking/