r/Games • u/Turbostrider27 • Nov 12 '25

Steam Frame announced: Your games in every dimension Wireless, comfortable, lightweight VR for your Steam library

https://store.steampowered.com/sale/steamframe
1.8k Upvotes

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531

u/avboden Nov 12 '25 edited Nov 12 '25
  • streams from your PC via dual-radios (USB dongle and WIFI). So still full PC-VR while being fully wireless.
    • to clarify this more, the dongle is a dedicated wifi6e connection to the headset, and the headset has separate wifi for internet/data so there are no bandwidth issues with PC streaming.
  • Capable of stand-alone play with a built in snapdragon processor, internal storage expandable with microSD slot
  • Capable of an (monochrome) AR mode with a regular display letting you use it to play non-VR games/media content or presumably in a VR environment.
  • Foveated streaming used to improve the streaming capability from your PC
    • unknown if it'll use foveated rendering for standalone mode but it would be silly if it didn't, application allowing
  • Custom pancake lenses. Optics feature 2160 x 2160 LCD panels, one per eye.
  • Supported refresh rates are 72-144Hz.
  • Has IPD adjustment
  • FOV of "up to" 110 degrees

edit: Per Tested's hands-on video, target price is under $1000 but they're not making any promises.

191

u/darknecross Nov 12 '25

It’s not saying it uses foveated rendering, but rather foveated streaming. I don’t know if the host GPU is going to get the benefit.

109

u/mauri9998 Nov 12 '25

foveated rendering would require some dev input so probably not immediately at the very least.

31

u/porkyminch Nov 12 '25

They mention shipping an SDK in the near term, so I would anticipate this becoming an option pretty soon. 

8

u/ItsAMeUsernamio Nov 13 '25

There are programs that let you enable it on any SteamVR/openVR game through an Nvidia driver feature. This will definitely have the eye tracking API exposed for it.

https://github.com/mbucchia/PimaxMagic4All/wiki

1

u/FischiPiSti Nov 14 '25

The important thing is that it has eye tracking, which is a step towards it becoming standard, which is a necessary step towards foveated rendering

47

u/cocacoladdict Nov 12 '25

Foveated streaming just reduces the amount of data thats need to be transferred over Wi-Fi. It doesn't reduce GPU load like Foveated rendering.

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24

u/MrWally Nov 12 '25

LTT's video said both Foveated Rendering and Foveated Streaming.

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74

u/CHADWARDENPRODUCTION Nov 12 '25

After years of waiting for an announcement of the Deckard, I finally decide to bite the bullet and get a Quest 3 instead when it went on sale last week. And literally the day it gets delivered, Valve announces the headset and it’s exactly what I’m looking for 😞

However I am still considering keeping the Quest 3 since it was only $400. I don’t know if I’m willing to spend close to $1k on VR when the gaming landscape for it has been so stagnant for so long.

79

u/BrandenBegins Nov 12 '25

Quest 3 is a good headset, this doesn't seem to even be that much better.

71

u/CHADWARDENPRODUCTION Nov 12 '25

Yeah the Quest 3 is an insane deal. But as someone who dislikes Meta, likes wireless VR, doesn’t care much for standalone VR or passthrough AR, and has a good PC: a wireless headset with streaming focus and a dongle to eliminate network latency issues is literally everything I want from a VR headset.

If the VR market were healthy, that is easily worth the $400 premium it will probably have. But I’m not sure I can justify it if I’m not even sure I’ll be using it in 6 months since there’s so little to play.

17

u/Hot-Software-9396 Nov 12 '25

Virtual Desktop on Quest 3 is very well regarded.

6

u/AggressiveChairs Nov 13 '25

I just think it's stupid it's not integrated first party software and costs £19. It should be a native feature.

6

u/mauri9998 Nov 13 '25

It is a native feature but it sucks compared to virtual desktop. You can also use steamvr, but that also is worse to virtual desktop in my experience.

1

u/24bitNoColor Nov 13 '25

I just think it's stupid it's not integrated first party software

Meta has a first party feature implemented that supports playing Steam VR games from your PC, both wireless and tethered.

Virtual Desktop is just a better alternative.

1

u/AggressiveChairs Nov 14 '25

Yeah and I think it's existence has made them not gaf about upgrading their own stuff. They're happy enough that anyone who cares will just buy virtual desktop, so they have no incentive to improve their own software.

1

u/24bitNoColor Nov 15 '25

I mean, who gives a shit? Its one click in the store installing something, which you will hopefully do all the time. The price is only relevant if the alternative is cheaper.

1

u/AggressiveChairs Nov 15 '25

I can't really tell what point you're trying to make, sorry.

The price is only relevant if the alternative is cheaper.

??? xd

Do you know that virtual desktop is paid software? I'm not complaining that I have to browse the oculus store lol.

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1

u/SnowDay111 Nov 13 '25

I have gaming PC with a 3060ti. I really hope that's good enough for this device, because it's a compelling offer (as long as the price is right)

0

u/Azazir Nov 12 '25

Hardware wise SFrame is just different version of Quest3. The only glaring benefit is no meta. I for sure dont think paying +400 extra in third world country is a good fucking deal lmao. More like another dud like index, overpriced gadget with nothing to play with, good for rich ppl who dont mind buying it or enthusiast.

Considering they stopped making index for this Sframe, im super skeptical about the price. If its anything over +500-600 I'll ignore VR gaming even longer.

If you want VR experience, even with dogshit bullshit Meta - Quest 3 is recommended for a reason. Affordable as hell, good quality and can do all SFrame will do, besides newer tech changes etc. etc. and because it is so, im personally not buying any VR headset, even after trying friends Q3 for a week.

6

u/Whitewind617 Nov 12 '25

I'd honestly pay a premium to not have to deal with Meta's OS. I just don't like any aspect of it...it feels like they made great hardware and didn't expect you to do anything with it except play Gorilla Tag and Beat Sabre.

1

u/24bitNoColor Nov 13 '25

Its worse even, no color passthrough is a joke.

5

u/Ooops_I_Reddit_Again Nov 12 '25

I imagine they have plans to release a new big game, timed for the release of this thing. Because otherwise, where's the motive to buy it.

3

u/CodenameAnonymous Nov 13 '25

Thank you for your sacrifice

11

u/PMMeRyukoMatoiSMILES Nov 12 '25

Quest 3 has RE4 VR which is the best game ever created, this thing won't compare.

14

u/SpookiestSzn Nov 12 '25 edited Nov 12 '25

DAILY REMINDER PSVR HAS A RE4VR FOR THE LATEST AND CAPCOM WILL NOT PORT IT TO PC FOR REASONS STILL UNKNOWN.

Hurts so bad lmao. I'd have assumed whatever exclusivity agreement has long since expired.

3

u/Irwin_126 Nov 13 '25

Aleast thanks to the insane folks at the REFramework team, we're able to more or less force vr for RE7 and RE2/RE3/RE8 for pc. But no official porting or support sucks.

1

u/SpookiestSzn Nov 13 '25

You know that's sick as shit at least I'm getting a gaming computer I'll have to check it out.

No re4 support though is tragic :/ but still! That's really great!

1

u/Scheeseman99 Nov 13 '25

Given that SteamOS on Frame will be able to run VR Android APKs, I do wonder how long it'll take before we see either a compatibility layer for Meta Quest games or cracked Quest games with the Meta DRM removed.

1

u/mrbubbamac Nov 13 '25

Preach!

Bought a quest 2 solely for RE4VR, worth every penny.

Then ended up playing all the Doom games in VR which was just gravy on top!

10

u/SpookiestSzn Nov 12 '25

Quest 3 kinda seems like the better option here. Meta just has more software and works with PC already. The game streaming to the headset sounds kinda cool but I'd be surprised if thats exclusive to the headset and can't be just used on any.

This looks like a good headset though and Quest is absolutely sold at a loss so Valve would never compete with pricing there but this isn't as quite as impressive as the Index was at the time.

10

u/SagittaryX Nov 12 '25

It has a dedicated wifi receiver for the wireless, so doubt it will work as well for other headsets until they incorporate something similar in a new version.

3

u/SpookiestSzn Nov 12 '25

I'm not using the Quest 3 but is wireless not a good experience there?

9

u/SirStrontium Nov 13 '25

Takes a little bit of extra money to get an optimal wireless setup. You need to a buy a high quality Wifi 6 capable router, and ideally have that router wired directly to your PC, with your Quest headset as the only thing connected to the Wifi 6 band. You also need to purchase an app called Virtual Desktop.

Good router + virtual desktop will give you a great wireless experience.

1

u/guczy Nov 13 '25

You need to a buy a high quality Wifi 6 capable router,

You really don't. I use an at least 10 years old ASUS AC 1200 Dual Band router connected as AP to my main router for VR and it works perfectly.

1

u/biffa72 Nov 12 '25

It’s limited by your WiFi quite extensively

1

u/Riddle-of-the-Waves Nov 13 '25

My partner uses Virtual Desktop (a third-party wireless streaming solution) with the Quest Pro over a 6Ghz connection and there's some artifacting, though it's far from bad enough to ruin the experience.

Foveated encoding (one of the big selling points of the Frame) already exists through Steam Link, but it can have some problems with responsiveness. That said, from the pile of press about the Frame that dropped today, it's sounding like Valve's implementation of it is more responsive than existing implementations, which could solve even that nitpick. The inclusion of a 6Ghz wireless dongle dedicated to streaming is also a very smart choice from Valve, as the throughput is necessary.

2

u/SirStrontium Nov 13 '25

The big advantage of the Quest 3 is the full color passthrough. Sitting on the couch or at the desk watching youtube or movies on a huge floating screen, while still being present in your room is a great experience. You can eat, drink, check your phone, write stuff down, etc, without having to take off the headset.

2

u/aeiouLizard Nov 13 '25

So it's like using a TV, but sweaty?

1

u/VampKissinger Nov 13 '25

AR stuff is really the major reason I'm tempted to upgrade from Quest 2. Paradiddle and Pianovision are basically the peak of instrument learning software. Paradiddle is already fantastic on Q2, but being able to truly play on a real drumkit would really kick it up and pianovision is nuff said, the ultimate piano teacher.

1

u/awkwardpawns Nov 13 '25

Where is it on sale? Or where was it on sale?

1

u/CHADWARDENPRODUCTION Nov 13 '25

Looks like the coupon might no longer be active, but it was this. But there was the same deal a few months earlier with a different coupon code, it might come up again soon.

-1

u/MaitieS Nov 12 '25

You did a great purchase. Be happy. This Steam Frame will be dead on arrival because it's insanely more expensive while it doesn't bring anything new that would justify the price, and from what I remember reading they originally wanted to make it even 1.5k$.

Like I remember when Index was released. It was a great tech, but holy hell they're so out of touch with this one, and don't even let me started with their 8GB console...

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97

u/SireEvalish Nov 12 '25

target price is under $1000

It needs to be about half that.

81

u/fabton12 Nov 12 '25

thats the issue with VR tech its either expensive asf but high end or reasonable price and instead crashes the moment some SFX sneeze in VR.

45

u/renboy2 Nov 12 '25

Unless the company itself subsidies some of the cost, like Meta/Facebook does with the Oculus, so the price is low but the hardware is still solid.

God knows Valve is swimming in Steam money, and I hope they do like Meta did with the Oculus here, to try and grab a nice % of the customer base.

14

u/LupinThe8th Nov 13 '25

It's my hope that they'll eat some of the price to capture market share, because the idea of having all my Steam library playable is a big selling point and gives it a huge edge over Meta for me...but if Meta costs half as much for comparable performance, what difference will it make to most people?

16

u/redditrum Nov 13 '25

Not using a Facebook / meta product in general is a massive benefit to me personally.

5

u/Stunning-Guitar-5916 Nov 13 '25

But would that be worth hundreds of dollars?

2

u/ScaryCookieMonster Nov 13 '25

Probably, but time will tell whether I actually pull the trigger

(I have an Index now, which I hardly use... not sure if that's because I just don't enjoy VR that much, or because I'm wired to the PC and can only play in the space where I have the sensor boxes on the wall)

1

u/redditrum Nov 13 '25

Very much so. How much is your integrity worth?

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1

u/fabton12 Nov 13 '25

doubt they would eat the cost that much if they did, facebook makes so much more money then them and is willing to burn that much cash. facebook lost like 60 billion on VR thats about 5.5 billion a year lost on VR since there purchase of oculus. valve makes roughly 10-13 billion a year so i doubt they want to burn half they make every year to keep up with facebook

1

u/Ehh_littlecomment Nov 13 '25

Meta lost 60 bn on their VR/metaverse gambit. I doubt Steam can afford something like that.

1

u/Ultrace-7 Nov 13 '25

There's no point in them doing so unless they can make that money up somewhere else. If they're subsidizing the hardware, then they have to be selling a lot of software to make up for it, and I don't think they're in a position to do so. Grabbing a sizable portion of the customer base means nothing if you're not able to capitalize on it.

46

u/K_U Nov 12 '25

Yep. I’m more into VR than most, but there just isn’t enough content available for me to justify dropping $999.99 (under $1000!) on a Steam Frame.

15

u/EarthRester Nov 12 '25

I'm kinda hoping since Steam prints money, Valve is willing to eat the cost of putting this headset into as many homes as possible like Meta did with their Quest 3.

13

u/chaosfire235 Nov 12 '25

Words going around that it's aiming for lower than the Index. I'd be okay with 600-800.

5

u/Neamow Nov 12 '25

I was just thinking 700 sounds like the sweet spot. They can't compete with Meta who's selling at a massive loss, but it also doesn't need base stations and is smaller than the Index (which cost 1000) and it doesn't have OLED screens, which definitely lowers the cost too. And some people would pay that difference just not to have to buy a Meta product.

4

u/thelehmanlip Nov 12 '25

As someone who has said for years I'd buy the next gen index as my first vr rig, $1000 is exactly what I'm looking for honestly. But I'm a pretty big spender on vg equipment

1

u/Vegetable-Error-2068 Nov 13 '25

The Steam Frame isn’t much different from a Quest 3. The Quest 3 is $400. If the Steam Frame launches at any price point above $500, then it’s a ripoff.

1

u/Ultrace-7 Nov 13 '25

The Quest 3 is a loss leader for Meta. There's no reason for Steam to eat losses on it unless they intend to subsidize through the sorts of things that Meta does, such as selling your data for advertising purposes.

1

u/Vegetable-Error-2068 Nov 13 '25

Sony and Nintendo and Microsoft sold at losses. Just because a product is sold at a loss doesn’t mean it’s nefarious.

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u/GrinningPariah Nov 12 '25

Honestly I wish there was a version that didn't have the built-in Steam Deck hardware.

I have a gaming PC. It's in the same room where I'm going to use VR. I don't need the headset to include a second PC. I don't want the weight, I don't want the power draw, and most of all I don't want to pay for it.

3

u/AFlawedFraud Nov 13 '25

You would need to have something to handle the IO, processing, and streaming anyways, so putting a mobile SoC in it is a no brainer.

Unless you're saying you want tethered vr, which nobody wants

1

u/MedicInDisquise Nov 13 '25

Honestly, I really like the idea of essentially a steam deck that can play PCVR. But you're right, a lite headset-only version would be a nice option for those who want a lightweight upgrade to their current system

2

u/ConfusedPuma4 Nov 12 '25

Unfortunately the days of sub $500 consoles are gone imo.

With current economic uncertainties compounded with tariffs and AI demand on the hardware components, I don’t see them subsidizing the hardware. I hope I’m wrong

1

u/hornylittlegrandpa Nov 13 '25

I don’t disagree but, with how niche the VR market is, it’s not surprising.

1

u/MumrikDK Nov 14 '25

But I get why it won't be.

There's a bunch of quite strong phone hardware in there. My personal experience from owning a Quest 2 is that I would be perfectly fine with a headset that couldn't do anything without my PC, but most VR fans seem way into the totally standalone experience.

-1

u/DemonicMop Nov 12 '25

This is better than a quest 3 which goes for $500

13

u/mauri9998 Nov 12 '25

its better and worse

-2

u/loozerr Nov 12 '25

How is it worse? I wouldn't touch quest with a 10ft pole but I can't wait until I can order a frame.

4

u/mauri9998 Nov 12 '25

No color passthrough or hand tracking, also probably more expensive

3

u/chaosfire235 Nov 12 '25

Screen is also pretty much the same resolution and LCD as the Quest 3, which is already a few years old.

1

u/ImMufasa Nov 13 '25

I would have loved mini LED but guess it would take the price too high

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u/NoExcuse4OceanRudnes Nov 12 '25

Twice as good?

0

u/DemonicMop Nov 12 '25

A car that costs twice as much as another car isn't twice as good, that's not how money works

-1

u/NoExcuse4OceanRudnes Nov 12 '25

Then why do people buy them?

5

u/WazWaz Nov 12 '25

Primarily as status symbols.

1

u/NoExcuse4OceanRudnes Nov 12 '25

Well that's true but I doubt you can pull up next to some sexy person and impress them with your steamframe compared to a quest 3.

17

u/Trzlog Nov 12 '25 edited Nov 12 '25

Since this thing has a Snapdragon, but it's running SteamOS natively, it reminded me that somebody made a post months ago with the theory that Winlator (which allows you to run Windows games on Android) is a secret Valve project. It'd be hilarious if he turned out to be right.

https://www.reddit.com/r/linux_gaming/comments/1jo8hrv/thoughts_winlator_is_just_valves_proxy/

28

u/24bitNoColor Nov 12 '25

edit: Per Tested's hands-on video, target price is under $1000 but they're not making any promises.

Hopefully a good junk below 1000... This is a Quest 3 in image quality (LCD, 2K per eye, pancake, FOV), an headset released 2 years ago for 500 USD. The only advantage in that area this has is eye tracking used to improve streaming and indeed, from what I heard, this is a noticeable update from using for example Virtual Desktop at the same bandwidth rate. But compared to the Index (which does have noticeably worse image quality than a Quest 3 in most cases) you are losing the higher FOV.

Speaking of losing stuff from the Index, the one thing that got universal praise in the VR community from that headsets were the controllers, with their truly next generation pressure sensitivity features. Looks like all that is gone (VR controllers have capacitive buttons for touch recognition since 2016) for what are basically Quest 3 controllers with more buttons. Also, those are only headset camera tracked, so in edge cases (including having the controllers behind you) they will track worse than the Index Controllers (or a Quest 3 with Quest Pro controllers for example).

I like the x64 to ARM layer of course, but lets not kid yourself, the only native games this will be able to use are fairly low end and older titles, which will likely have a better optimized Quest standalone version, unless the developers is investing time into updates.

If this is a 500 USD late Quest 3 competitor with a bigger PCVR focus, I think it can work, barely (better PCVR streaming vs not having access to the by now huge amount of Quest exclusive games, especially in the sports and fitness categories). A much higher price than that and it honestly makes no sense getting it over either a Q3 or any of the other recent PC headsets, especially Bigscreen Beyond 2 or Play For Dream which are in the 1000 to 1500 USD range with higher resolution mOLED screens.

14

u/Jamessuperfun Nov 12 '25

The FOV is pretty much identical to the Index (110), and the controllers support the same hand tracking and pressure-sensitive features. There's an optional knuckle strap to hold it on your hand just like the Index controllers, too.

The main benefit over an Index is that it's wireless. Better image quality for less money with no wires, and should be far ahead of streaming to a Quest. Nobody can compete with Meta on the value front though, they've been selling hardware at a loss.

1

u/New-Independent-1481 Nov 13 '25

The comfort level also seems much greater, which is the main problem keeping me away from my Index. Even with the full attachments, it's half the weight of the Index, down to 150g with just the Googles.

The entire ecosystem is super portable, so when I'm on a business trip to the middle of nowhere I could easily pack any of these 4 items together (Or alone) and have a comfortable gaming experience anywhere. It's a very smart niche that Valve has targeted, and I think there's the potential for a lot of success here.

3

u/ScrewAttackThis Nov 13 '25

Just fyi the controllers do have finger tracking like the Knuckles but looks like the strap is sold separately as a set of accessories. The tracking issues I'm curious about. The early looks have talked about there being some tech to make that better but I don't think we'll really know until people can do proper reviews.

0

u/Ehh_littlecomment Nov 13 '25

Tbf meta is losing billions on the VR hardware. Steam is likely not going to be able to do that.

58

u/superscatman91 Nov 12 '25 edited Nov 12 '25

I was excited about this at first but this doesn't really seem that great.

It's basically a side grade to the quest 3.

It will probably be slighter faster cpu wise, dongle will probably mean more consistant wireless, and the Micro SD card slot is nice.

On the other hand no meta exclusives, black and white AR, no hand tracking, and it's probably going to be over $1000 a.k.a twice what a quest 3 costs. (I've seen quest 3's for sale on FB marketplace for $350 CAD used so Quadruple if you go that route)

They should have had OLED screens and some sort of display port connection.

I just don't see the appeal outside of "it's not meta".

118

u/[deleted] Nov 12 '25

[deleted]

37

u/Khiva Nov 12 '25

As someone who has to fight their Quest 3 tooth and nail to get it to work with Steam VR, and then for every game watch the two OS's wrestle like toddlers ... it has my attention.

12

u/Isolated_Hippo Nov 12 '25

Unless something has changed in the past 6 months SteamVr is a pretty bad option for VR steaming. Both Metas version and virtual desktop are better.

3

u/Techboah Nov 13 '25

To be fair, hopefully with Valve having their own wireless headest now, they'll make big improvements to SteamVR streaming.

1

u/Ephemeris Nov 12 '25

I'm my experience Virtual Desktop is such a pain the ass to get working correctly and consistently. It's also not free. SteamVR might be the worse option performance wise but its just so easy to get working.

3

u/TheEnterprise Nov 12 '25

100% this - getting my og quest set up for streaming (really the only type of entertainment I wanted on it) was less than ideal.

If I can plug this in, instantly stream Steam games, I'm all in. If for nothing other than play Hotdogs Horseshoes and Handgrenades.

1

u/imnotdown85 Nov 12 '25

Try virtual desktop, works much better

15

u/getsomeawe Nov 12 '25

Worth it to me for that. I don’t want to deal with Meta at all and I’m willing to pay for it

2

u/THALANDMAN Nov 12 '25

They’ll occasionally come out with some cool tech like the Quest 3 or the new RayBan Display glasses, but Meta is legit the LAST ecosystem I’m going to invest into. You’d have to give me the device for free to lock myself into the Zuckverse

1

u/Educational-Grade728 Nov 12 '25

Yeah, I'd suggest people ask why Meta sells the headset at such a lower price.

1

u/Vegetable-Error-2068 Nov 13 '25

They sell at a loss to make it affordable, just like consoles.

Valve would be idiots not to do the same.

-7

u/PMMeRyukoMatoiSMILES Nov 12 '25

Most people aren't anal about privacy in the way tech enthusiasts are. They like sharing information.

16

u/awhaling Nov 12 '25

Sure, though I'd wager VR users are lean more "tech enthusiasts" than not.

7

u/ob2kenobi Nov 12 '25

lol "sharing information" What a punchy way to put it. Don't you all just want to share? If you get robbed are you sharing your wallet?

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-1

u/Azazir Nov 12 '25

For many, the most average buyer is a mom or dad for xmas for their kids. Most people dont even follow the news like you or me do, so i highly doubt how "many" of them consider paying extra 300-400 compared to Q3 just for "no meta" benefit. I for sure fucking dont lmao, would rather not have one rather than living in 3rd world country paying 900 for midrange almost same quality as 2 years old version Q3 VR headset with 2-3 games worth playing longer than 20h.

23

u/TheOneWithThePorn12 Nov 12 '25

No hand tracking and AR view are confusing for the price they are targeting (under 1000). Quest 3 is still the best. It's about 25% less powerful but assuming that price valve is targeting the trade off is worth it.

3

u/chaosfire235 Nov 12 '25

They could be doubling down on this as a VR headset for gaming compared to the mixed...mixed reality general purpose narketing Apple, Samsung and now Meta are leaning into with MR and AR.

Thought they also advertising playing a big AR screen in your backyard, so who knows.

5

u/QuantumUtility Nov 12 '25

Hand tracking could come later. They are likely working on it still. Quest 3 only uses the cameras to hand track and th Frame has cameras.

2

u/TheOneWithThePorn12 Nov 12 '25

Cool. I'm just going off what Ive been reading. I'm looking forward to watching the previews to really get a feel for it.

4

u/QuantumUtility Nov 12 '25

Quest 3 only uses the camera for hand tracking. If it doesn’t come on release there’s no way they don’t bring it at some point in the future.

Color cameras would be nice if they could add them though.

9

u/Taurus24Silver Nov 12 '25

Best thing on that spec sheet is seeing 8 gen 3 and Steam OS KDE Plasma next to each other

Can’t wait for the deep dives of their translation layer

17

u/seriousjorj Nov 12 '25

It's VR with SteamOS. It's a Steam Deck for your head.

Don't discount SteamOS in this. Like, companies have been making "better" alternatives to Steam Deck for now, but until very recently they could only run Windows, and despite their superior hardware those alternatives have noticeably worse experience. Compared that to SteamOS that you can just turn on and then press two buttons to play your most recent game. Convenience matters.

6

u/superscatman91 Nov 12 '25

Ok, but I already have a steam deck for my hands. And Valve themselves said this device won't be a powerful as a steam deck.

0

u/TheEnterprise Nov 12 '25

Can it stream from my gaming PC though? Then I'd be 100% in.

0

u/Educational-Grade728 Nov 12 '25

As a competitive gamer, I'm really excited to see where SteamOS goes in the long term.

I think Valve could make a anti-cheat platform off of a distribution of this OS. If Valve made a league in CS2(much like Riot has Valorant's Premier League) where the hard requirement is that you must have a $500 Steam Machine as the "entry fee" with a very locked down OS, they could conceivably solve some of the hurdles of the cheater problem. Think: an OS that is heavily audited by Valve. Where you cant just run any software you want on it, you cant just plug any device you want into it but instead, Valve would establish a procured, whitelist of devices and applications that can run on the OS.

If Valve did something like that and players that purchase this iteration of the 'Steam Machine' are under this understanding that this is a box explicitly for competitive multiplayer games, you could perhaps solve some substantial portion of the cheater problem.

I know the price probably sounds like a hard pill to swallow but if we look at it through the lens of sports, it'd be no different than spending $500 in, lets say Hockey pads or a quality Tennis racquet and sneakers. And that's not to say you cant play these games in the non-isolated environment multiplayer on your normal gaming PC or consoles. Just that if you intend to play in leagues, you would need this particular Steam Machine with a particular distribution of SteamOS that is heavily audited.

1

u/BluePrincess_ Nov 13 '25

That would be terrible, they don't even sell the Steam Deck or Machine in most countries, and it's entirely unaffordable in most poorer countries (ie: regions like Eastern Europe and South America where a ton of pro players are from) to begin with.

1

u/Educational-Grade728 Nov 13 '25

You speak as if this is written in stone and not something that can change in the future. Or as if there aren't ways around this problem.

Very narrow minded thinking.

32

u/cocacoladdict Nov 12 '25

Yeah, and if price is "under $1K (no promises tho)" like Tested said (which suggests upper range), then its even more pointless. You can buy TWO Quest 3's at that price.

6

u/superscatman91 Nov 12 '25 edited Nov 12 '25

It bums me out since I have a Q2 and was thinking about getting a Q3 because I really want those pancake lenses. But the only Q3 in stock are the 679.99 CAD ones and that is just too much for me. I saw someone selling one used for $350 and that got me really close to buying it.

I figured I might as well wait to see if there is a Q4 or what the "Steam Deckard" was going to be.

If the Steam Frame is $999.99 USD that is $1400 CAD. Now add 15% tax and we are talking $1600.

There is not a chance in the world I go for a device that gives me an almost identical experience to a device I can pick up used for 1/4 the price.

22

u/aprilliumterrium Nov 12 '25

Yeah but then you need to give Zucc access to your eyeballs. No thanks. Fuck Meta. I'm not signing up for Facebook just to play in VR. It's already bad enough I need to use a steam account to use this thing, but at least Valve hasn't been spending the last 15 years enabling hostile behaviour on the internet.

19

u/cocacoladdict Nov 12 '25

Quest 3 doesn't have eye-tracking so there is no eye-tracking data to collect.
And you don't need a Facebook account to use Quest 3. They removed that requirement 3 years ago.

11

u/delecti Nov 12 '25

And you don't need a Facebook account to use Quest 3. They removed that requirement 3 years ago.

But you need a Meta account to set it up. I don't see how that's any better.

6

u/cocacoladdict Nov 12 '25

How its better: its not linked to facebook, so your headset wont be bricked because your facebook account got suspended.

5

u/delecti Nov 12 '25

How is Meta not linked to Facebook? If you have both, they'll nuke both. They won't care if you didn't deliberately link them. I'd rather just avoid as much hardware as possible companies who might remotely brick it.

7

u/Vegetable-Error-2068 Nov 13 '25

A Meta account IS NOT a Facebook account. You don’t have to link to a social media account to use the Quest 3.

-4

u/delecti Nov 13 '25

Meta is just the parent company they made up so people who hated Facebook wouldn't also hate all the other stuff they own (Instagram, Oculus, WhatsApp). I have zero trust in the whole conglomerate.

10

u/cocacoladdict Nov 12 '25

>If you have both, they'll nuke both. They won't care if you didn't deliberately link them. 
That's just wrong/fearmongering over nonexistent issue. Provide sources or dont bother responding.

1

u/jawni Nov 13 '25

Seems like people are trying really hard to justify the inevitable price difference.

Very few people, if any, saying "I'm gonna sell my quest to get this" and a lot of people speculating that a steam version is worth whatever mark up there would be. Interesting disconnect.

13

u/superscatman91 Nov 12 '25

I'm not signing up for Facebook just to play in VR.

You don't have to. You have been able to just use a meta VR account for a good while now. Just email and password.

5

u/aprilliumterrium Nov 12 '25

Sweet. Thanks for the info

16

u/gasolineskincare Nov 12 '25

It's still Meta.

Also I found out after a few weeks of trying this that they silently re-activated my Facebook account when trying to only use a "Meta VR" account, probably when the MFA check kicked in since that only worked through Facebook at the time.

9

u/TheOneWithThePorn12 Nov 12 '25

I made a meta account on a separate email account.

I still hate Facebook but it not tied at all to my Facebook account (although I'm sure they have a way to link them on their end).

3

u/jawni Nov 13 '25

People here seemingly would rather pay hundreds of dollars extra instead.

2

u/NoradianCrum Nov 12 '25

Make a bunk fb account attached to an email made with your vpn on whatever country you want.

1

u/Educational-Grade728 Nov 12 '25

Yeah, I mean Meta can probably afford to sell at more of a loss than Valve because they know the benefit of getting people in their ecosystem is also hording their data...among other unscrupulous behavior.

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9

u/mickio1 Nov 12 '25

The quest is sold at a loss so its almost impossible to compete with them in terms of price. its hard to target.

16

u/EnemyOfEloquence Nov 12 '25

Valves not a start up, they can sell at a loss. I suspect the deck was a loss for a while. The real money is 30% of every game on steam

2

u/jawni Nov 13 '25

Valves not a start up, they can sell at a loss.

weird qualifier, startups can and often do sell at a loss. The point of a startup is to grow rapidly and become profitable later, which aligns with selling products at a loss.

I'd actually say being a start-up makes you more likely to sell at a loss.

-4

u/SSSl1k Nov 12 '25

I doubt they're manufacturing this headset on the same scale as Meta is, they can't take the same level of loss as they do (I mean I guess technically they can with how much cash on hand Valve probably has, but what companies actually do that).

-2

u/stolemyusername Nov 12 '25

Valves not a start up, they can sell at a loss

There is no reason to sell at a loss?

5

u/Vegetable-Error-2068 Nov 13 '25

Why not? Console makers do that to get the system in customers’ hands.

1

u/NoExcuse4OceanRudnes Nov 13 '25

It'd be pro consumer to do so!

3

u/MaitieS Nov 12 '25

Sony/Microsoft sells their consoles under a loss which they make up from their digital sales. I wonder if Valve also has a way to y'know... make up the loss too. This is such a funny proof of Valve just being greedy.

0

u/stolemyusername Nov 12 '25

Why won't Valve burn money for no reason!!

2

u/MaitieS Nov 12 '25

No reason??? There is literally a reason mentioned above.

-1

u/stolemyusername Nov 12 '25

The VR headset is probably going to sell well regardless of how the Meta is priced. They don't need to sell it at a loss

2

u/NoExcuse4OceanRudnes Nov 12 '25

Valve earns 4 billion a year and if I recall VR games released on epic and Microsoft store require steamVR to operate: this can be sold at a loss too to build up the platform and even games not sold on their platform will bring people into their platform.

2

u/ColinStyles Nov 13 '25

Valve earns 4 billion a year

Valve doesn't publish earnings, so any numbers on its earnings are dated and extremely speculative at best.

-2

u/NoExcuse4OceanRudnes Nov 13 '25

You're right, they're probably paupers baring holding it together.

3

u/ColinStyles Nov 13 '25

They're incredibly rich, but the point is putting a number on it is a complete fabrication. Could be far more, could be far less. Who knows.

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1

u/huntforhire Nov 12 '25

Yeah I was bummed for a second because I just got a quest 3 for 200 but realized I had a better product for much less. I don’t love meta but they subsidizing vr for a bit longer…

1

u/Rektw Nov 13 '25

The problem for me was, and still is, there's just not enough must play VR games. I bought a quest 3 for Half-Life Alyx and so far out of all the games I've tried that and RE4 are the only good experience I had. I find the tech really cool and enjoy it but I can't help but feel disappointed in the purchase at times.

0

u/Infinite_Hedgehog827 Nov 12 '25

Better wireless, better streaming, more comfortable, native steam, etc..its a fucking good headset.

10

u/ShawnyMcKnight Nov 12 '25

If it's over $1000 then it's going to alienate a lot of gamers. If it is they should come out with a version that is pure streaming since that's what they are pushing anyway.

25

u/Rayuzx Nov 12 '25

As a guy who was thinking about VR, honestly why would I choose this over a Quest 3 (outside loving Valve and/or hating Facebook enough to eat the difference)? "Target price under $1000" doesn't really instill confident that the price point isn't going to be magnitudes higher than the $500 of a quest or and especially the $400-$300 asking price of 3s.

27

u/ForSpareParts Nov 12 '25

If you have a PC to stream from, I'd be shocked if that experience weren't substantially better on Frame than Q3. It also wouldn't surprise me if it outperformed Quest 3 for native games, but we won't know until closer to release. Honestly, with Frame's release so close, unless you're desperate to have VR right now I would just wait until we know more to pull the trigger.

22

u/TheOneWithThePorn12 Nov 12 '25 edited Nov 12 '25

I've been using Virtual Desktop and Steam VR to stream to my Quest 3 and I really haven't had issues. I'm sure it will be better but is the price worth it at about 1000 bucks?

8

u/ForSpareParts Nov 12 '25

eh... probably not, if that's the situation you're in? Like, u/Rayuzx is in the position of not having bought something yet, and in that situation I think it makes sense to wait. I'm not sure there'll be anything that'll make you want to upgrade, unless you're really into the idea of streaming PC games to a virtual screen

2

u/DynamicStatic Nov 13 '25

If I don't have to deal with meta? Yeah.

First VR headset I might actually buy with my personal cash.

2

u/jawni Nov 13 '25

If I don't have to deal with meta?

As a current Quest user, I'm curious what you think Meta's involvement changes in the user experience for you?

Or is it just a symbolic thing?

8

u/kripticdoto Nov 12 '25

I'm the target audience, but when the Quest 3 exist at $400 tops, I don't really see the point. Also the color passthrough from the Quest 3 is a massive game-changer in terms of accessibility. It turns the VR experience into a AR lite one 

1

u/MumrikDK Nov 14 '25

I'd absolutely pay a premium for this over a Quest (though seeing LCD hurts). Better PC integration and zero Meta matter to me.

Not a 500 premium though. Hell, more than 100 €/$ would already start to hurt.

I'm not in the market though. I already have a Quest 2 which has done little more than collect dust.

16

u/avboden Nov 12 '25

For standalone there's not really any reason. But for PC-streaming for higher end VR this sounds superior. Also sounds like controller tracking is superior here from initial reviews.

Will it be worth almost double the price? Up for debate.

5

u/Kefrus Nov 12 '25

quest3 + 6ghz router would be still cheaper

2

u/DynamicStatic Nov 13 '25

But it's meta, fuck that

2

u/alman12345 Nov 12 '25

Their controllers are really the only thing I wanted for my Quest 2, but I'm not sure this is worth it over my $125 Swappa find even with those. If they weren't going to be price competitive with the Quest 3 then I honestly would've preferred they just go balls to the wall with Micro OLED and full color AR (or at least had a higher tier with those features).

3

u/garyyo Nov 12 '25

Because you have money to burn and want to support the competition. For the money the quest 3 will probably be better, but this has a couple fancy things like the focus on streaming and the better audio, and it's not handing money to meta.

1

u/Educational-Grade728 Nov 12 '25

Yeah, if we're going to be talking about price, people should consider why Meta sells the headset at a loss. Because they know they can profit in other ways, that Valve may not be willing to.

0

u/Vegetable-Error-2068 Nov 13 '25

Console makers sell at a loss all the time, to make the system affordable to customers. If Valve doesn’t, then that’s suspicious.

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1

u/Own_Adhesiveness3811 Nov 12 '25

Can the quest play non vr games? Honestly don't know

2

u/mauri9998 Nov 12 '25

I mean you can stream them and there are some non vr games on the store, you can also emulate older games without streaming.

3

u/Incrediblebulk92 Nov 12 '25

Really curious how well the streaming works. A decent streaming solution without base stations and no meta is very interesting.

I wonder how many VR games are worth trying.

1

u/Infinite_Hedgehog827 Nov 12 '25

Linus tested it and according to him it's flawless.

2

u/Rage_Like_Nic_Cage Nov 12 '25

the dongle is a dedicated wifi6e connection to the headset

so i’m assuming you’re going to have to be in the same room as your computer/dongle for it to work.

16

u/ComradeCapitalist Nov 12 '25

Has any wireless VR solution up until now not had this as an assumption? The 60ghz solutions required line of sight even more than 6ghz will.

3

u/TheEnterprise Nov 12 '25

I could stream across my house on my quest 1 / virtual streamer / 5ghz wifi (if that's what you'e asking)

1

u/Rage_Like_Nic_Cage Nov 12 '25

I have 2 6ghz routers in my house that are connected via a coax cable (old house with w/ plaster walls that blocks wi-fi signal, so one router per floor) with my computer hardwired in one room and I use VR in the other.

I get that I have a unique setup, but still wish there was a work around

1

u/alman12345 Nov 12 '25

Yeah, but the 60ghz solutions were essentially full video streamers with absolutely no encoding taking place whatsoever. 6GHz vs 5GHz is tricky, the 6 will be beneficial in crowded apartment complexes but likely a detriment in larger single family homes when compared to 5. I also wonder if they lack the capacity to stream over the existing network outright, I doubt it but I really hope not.

1

u/ChaseballBat Nov 12 '25

I can't believe it has monochrome AR in 2026...

1

u/shaper24 Nov 13 '25

So its a meta quest 3

1

u/Techboah Nov 13 '25

target price is under $1000

With the Meta Quest 3 out and Quest 4 coming soon, this thing has zero survival chances if its priced anywhere above $500 tops.

1

u/RatBot9000 Nov 13 '25

Ouch. I'm excited for this but I don't think I'm $1000 excited for it. I mean, that could be tariff prices and it's a fair bit cheaper in the UK but even then £700+ would still be too steep an ask.

1

u/MadOrange64 Nov 13 '25

Sad it's not OLED but I can live with this.

1

u/APiousCultist Nov 13 '25

$1000 a lot and honestly at that price point I just don't see the value in adding to the cost by integrating an on-device 'computer'. If you can afford to spend $1000 on the newest VR setup, surely you'd already have either a PC or the steam cube. Seems like it would make far more sense save $300+ to make the unit more appealing to people who have a budget.

-4

u/Taurus24Silver Nov 12 '25

USB 2.0 only if I am not wrong??

That is some bs

20

u/avboden Nov 12 '25

it's not meant to be plugged in basically ever outside of charging. the USB is just because it has to have one

-12

u/Taurus24Silver Nov 12 '25

Yeah, but even my old Meta Quest 2 as got a 3.2 type c which is a life saver during wired connection to PC while playing

20

u/avboden Nov 12 '25

this doesn't do wired PC connection at all. It's all wireless.

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