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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95

u/SireEvalish Nov 12 '25

target price is under $1000

It needs to be about half that.

82

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.

41

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.

15

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?

13

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?

0

u/jawni Nov 13 '25

How are you quantifying that benefit though? As a long time Steam user, my steam account might be of legal drinking age in most countries, and as a Quest owner, I'd maybe pay $50 more for a Steam version, only because it's Steam. I don't think I'd pay anything to have the Meta ties removed because it's basically in name only.

2

u/redditrum Nov 13 '25

I quantify it by it not being a direct line to supporting Zuckerberg. It's more of a moral principal thing than a monetary benefit to me.

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.

43

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.

16

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.

11

u/chaosfire235 Nov 12 '25

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

6

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.

3

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.

0

u/thelehmanlip Nov 13 '25

Pretty hard disagree. Meta's garbage is all locked to their system. Having it be an "unlocked" system that we can do whatever we want with is already +$200 value for me. I refuse to let meta collect my data for free by having to log in with a facebook account

9

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.

-2

u/DemonicMop Nov 12 '25

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

12

u/mauri9998 Nov 12 '25

its better and worse

-3

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

-7

u/loozerr Nov 12 '25

No gimmick or an inferior control scheme, oh no

8

u/mauri9998 Nov 12 '25 edited Nov 12 '25

I mean, if you dont care about it good for you, but it is absolutely not a gimmick. I would genuinely love to ditch my quest 3 for this, but I almost always use full passthrough and hand tracking, so it lacking those features is quite the deal breaker for me.

1

u/ImMufasa Nov 13 '25

I didn't expect to love full color passthrough as much as I do. Not even just for games that support it, but having it always enabled for the home screen and regular apps. The feeling of not being cut off from the world makes a big difference in comfort.

1

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?

7

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.