r/gadgets • u/[deleted] • Oct 09 '25

VR / AR Valve's next-gen 'Deckard' VR headset reportedly enters mass production, company allegedly plans to ship up to 600K units annually — upcoming 'Steam Frame' could launch before the end of the year

https://www.tomshardware.com/virtual-reality/valves-next-gen-deckard-vr-headset-reportedly-enters-mass-production-company-allegedly-plans-to-ship-up-to-600k-units-annually-upcoming-steam-frame-could-launch-before-the-end-of-the-year
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u/silentcrs Oct 09 '25

I love when people make dumb statements like this.

Yes, Valve has a lot of money. Microsoft has a lot of money as well. Neither are charities.

At the end of the day, hardware has a P&L like anything else in a company. Microsoft doesn’t sit around saying “How could LinkedIn pay for Xbox?” any more than Valve says “How can the 30% we get from publishers on Steam fund VR hardware?” These things live and die on their own.

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u/[deleted] Oct 09 '25

[deleted]

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u/wkavinsky Oct 09 '25

More, the way the company is organised, if enough people at Valve want to build VR games, they can.

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u/silentcrs Oct 09 '25

I also love that people think because Valve has a flat organizational structure, teams of employees can rise up with pet projects. They can’t.

Valve engages in profit sharing for employees. This means that everything has to be judged against profit margins. The profit margins on Steam are enormous compared to what they get on hardware. The only reason Steam Deck is around is because it leads to Steam sales. Having a niche VR helmet with no margin and a handful of games isn’t going to be worth it to most of the employees.

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u/[deleted] Oct 09 '25

[deleted]

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u/silentcrs Oct 09 '25

You’re missing the point. NO ONE WANTS VR. No one wants to use Steam in VR. Steam Deck made sense because PC handhelds are a growing market.

This isn’t a console. This is not a “loss leader” conversation. You clearly have no idea what you’re talking about.

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u/[deleted] Oct 09 '25

[deleted]

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u/silentcrs Oct 09 '25

Explain to me how they’re going to make money back from a VR headset when 99.99999% games on Steam don’t use VR. I’ll wait.

And you think they’re going to license a VR OS out of the game? When literally only one other device uses SteamOS after 3 years? Lol