VRHow / VR History / High-end PC VR systems

High-end PC VR systems: Pimax, Varjo and Bigscreen Beyond

Short answer: These are three different histories, not one head-to-head product family. Pimax grew from wide-field-of-view enthusiast hardware and a 2017 crowdfunding campaign into the Crystal line; Varjo began with expensive, enterprise-only “human-eye resolution” VR and later introduced the more broadly aimed Aero; Bigscreen’s Beyond line pursued an unusually small, custom-fit PC headset before adding Beyond 2. The milestones below use company records or manufacturer-published historical material. Last checked October 11, 2026.

2015–2018: Pimax takes a wide-FOV, crowdfunded route

Pimax’s own company profile says it had been making a 4K headset since 2015 and that its 8K project launched on Kickstarter in 2017. The company says that campaign raised nearly $4.3 million and set a Guinness World Record; that is a company account of the campaign, while the Guinness record page is the independent record reference. Pimax’s company history links both claims to the campaign-era record.

A 2024 Pimax-published account of a Japanese product briefing adds a useful product sequence: the 8K project was followed by updated 8K Plus and 8K X versions. It describes the 8K headset development as 2018, but does not establish a single global retail-release date. For that reason, this page treats 2017 as the verified Kickstarter milestone and avoids claiming a more precise 8K launch date. Pimax’s 2024 historical/product account

2019–2021: Varjo establishes a professional, eye-resolution tier

On February 19, 2019, Varjo announced the VR-1. The company said it would begin sales and shipping immediately in 34 countries, at $5,995 plus a yearly service license, and positioned it for industrial design, training, simulation, architecture and engineering rather than ordinary consumer gaming. Varjo’s VR-1 announcement

Varjo then extended the same professional-fidelity idea into mixed reality. On December 2, 2019, it announced general availability and immediate shipping for the XR-1 Developer Edition, priced at $9,995 with a separate software and support service. The XR-1 was a video-pass-through mixed-reality product, so it should not be read as a direct PC-gaming successor to Pimax’s wide-FOV line. Varjo’s XR-1 shipping announcement

On October 21, 2021, Varjo announced Aero, a $1,990 headset with no annual software subscription fee. The announcement explicitly broadened the audience to advanced VR users such as flight-simulation enthusiasts, while retaining Varjo’s professional-grade positioning; first customer shipments were promised by the end of 2021. Varjo’s Aero announcement

2022–2024: Pimax moves from 8K branding to Crystal

Pimax’s later product history identifies Crystal as a 2023 product and describes Crystal Light as a lighter, PC-only derivative presented in 2024. In a company-published report on a May 25, 2024 demonstration, the Crystal Light is described as a 2880 × 2880-per-eye wired PC VR headset, while the report says Japanese sales were scheduled to begin at the end of June. Those dates describe the Japanese demonstration and sales plan, not a universal worldwide release date. Pimax’s Crystal Light history and product report

Pimax’s current company profile also lists Crystal, Crystal Light and Crystal Super as its current Crystal-series models. This article does not turn those models into a spec ranking: Pimax’s development path and market focus are primarily about high-resolution and wide-FOV PC VR, with product configurations changing over time.

2023–2025: Bigscreen makes PC VR personal, then scales it

Bigscreen announced Beyond on February 13, 2023. In a May 23 company update, it said more than 100 pre-production units had already gone to early preorder customers, reviewers and creators. The same update gave the company’s forecast at that time: US preorders were expected to ship in Q3 2023 and worldwide orders in Q4 2023. This is a production history, not proof that every order shipped on those dates. Bigscreen’s May 2023 Beyond update

Bigscreen’s first-generation Beyond therefore belongs to a different niche from Varjo’s enterprise systems and Pimax’s wide-FOV headsets: its story is centered on a very small, individually fitted PC headset and the manufacturing effort needed to fulfill those orders. The company later reported that all 2023 Beyond orders had shipped by May 23, 2024, while also noting that delivery timing had varied by country and cushion size. Bigscreen’s May 2024 production update

Beyond 2 marked the next product generation. Bigscreen’s June 26, 2025 update says the first production units had begun shipping worldwide; it also records that the company had launched Beyond 2 three months earlier and that production delays and a preorder backlog remained. The page gives estimates for different order groups, so “started shipping” should not be confused with universal availability on June 26. Bigscreen’s Beyond 2 shipping update

How to read the three timelines

“High-end” is therefore a category label, not evidence that the three companies served identical customers or that their model dates are directly comparable.

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