In order to get its new virtual reality (VR) device out onto the market as quickly as possible, Valve will be offering free development kits for the upcoming HTC Vive to a small handful of developers.

Valve Corporation and HTC Corporation have already sent free dev kits to a select number of developers, according to Valve spokesperson Doug Lombardi speaking to Ars Technica, such as Owlchemy Labs (Aaaaaa! For The Awesome), Bossa Studios (Surgeon Simulator, I Am Bread), Fireproof Games (The Room), and Cloudhead Games (The Gallery). Others are planned and it’s possible to sign up for a free Vive dev kit, but to get in on that will have to sign up.

Approved developers will get the Developer Edition kit for “free, at least initially,” Lombardi said. He also stated that this was part of an effort to get the development community charged up and prepared before the planned 2015 release of the Vive.

According to the SteamVR landing page, the dev kit “includes a headset, two single-handed controllers, and a system that tracks them all in the same absolute space.” And it will be available Spring 2015. HTC’s developer page includes a link for developers to sign up and request a developer edition.

While this is great news for developers—it also keeps the Vive out of the hands of the general public and the press because the dev kit is not coming out for public consumption. Since developers will have to sign up and be accepted, although it is free, this still corrals the distribution of dev kits according to HTC and Valve’s whims.

As a VR device, the Vive appears to be nothing short of amazing and the partnership between HTC and Valve means it will be well-placed against competitors. As the Vive approached launch it will be facing off against the Oculus Rift—which has no commercial release yet, but does have dev kits in the wild—and the Sony Morpheus—which will not be out until 2016.

Image credit: HTC Corporation, HTC Vive from http://www.htcvr.com/