No doubt the company made this move to promote both products simultaneously. The new Half-Life game will actually not require Valve’s Index. But Ars Technica’s previous report indicates that the experience of the company’s game will likely be more complete with its own VR headset and controllers. All this will mainly be down to the Knuckles controller. But it’s not clear yet what’s the digree of the difference the controller will make.
As mentioned during the Half-Life: Alyx announcement, those who already own the Valve Index VR headset will get the game for free. Those who get the headset before the end of the year will also get in-game cosmetics. But, unfortunately, Malaysia is not part of the new regions where the Valve Index will be available. There’s also no indication as to when, if ever, we’ll ever have it on our shores. (Source: The Verge)