Valve Steam Frame Brings Standalone and Wireless PC VR

Steam Frame reservations introduce a randomized queue, while pricing, battery life, accessories, and VR game support remain concerns.

Valve’s Steam Frame is nearing release after a year of waiting. The Steam Controller and Steam Machine arrived earlier, and now attention is turning to the Steam Frame. Reservations are open, with two SKUs available, while pricing, accessories, battery life, the VR game library, and streaming features are now part of the discussion.

Steam Frame reservations are open. If you ordered a Steam Machine, then you know what the reservation system is all about. For anyone who didn't buy a Steam Machine or didn't pay attention, the system works by signing up for one of the two available SKUs. When the time comes, believed to be September 17, Valve will randomize the queue.

Two Steam Frame SKUs Offer the Same Specifications

Realistically, the cheaper model makes more sense, but a reviewer who wants the hardware as soon as possible could choose the 1TB model. The 1TB model may be less popular, which means fewer people to compete with. Aside from the storage and the price, both SKUs are the same. They have the same specifications across the board, and both come with Half-Life: Alyx.

For someone who does not already own Half-Life: Alyx, that is useful. If the Frame did not come with Half-Life: Alyx, it would likely have been bought separately anyway. It is considered one of the VR games currently available. Steam Frame isn't the only hardware on sale. Accessories are also on sale, including official Valve options such as the charger itself. Steam Frame does not come with a charger, although it uses the same charger as a Steam Deck.

In addition, Valve is advertising two accessories from different companies. The first is a color passthrough accessory from Arctis Vision. It offers 5K HDR color passthrough and spatial video capture. By default, the Steam Frame's passthrough is black and white, which may be enough, but the color option costs $150.

There are also prescription lenses. These are intended for people who wear glasses most of the time and offer another option for using the Steam Frame. Some people already have a Steam Frame, and reviews are starting to show what the headset offers. One of the biggest problems raised with the Steam Frame is the price.

VR Game Support Remains a Concern

One question surrounding the Steam Frame is how many VR games are available. Some of the games being tested on the Steam Frame have been around for years, including Beat Saber and Half-Life: Alyx. Half-Life: Alyx is an older game by now. The problem is that there aren't many system sellers. Steam Frame doesn't really have system sellers because these are games that can already be played on a PC.

New games are coming out that work on the Steam Machine, but with the Steam Frame, the question remains: which VR games can push the hardware? Some indie games are coming out, including indie VR games. However, this is what happens when no AAA games push things forward. AAA games aren't always the preferred choice, but sometimes the industry needs something to push it forward. Another major issue is battery life.

The machine itself offers only about 1-2 hours of battery life, depending on the games being played. One of the Steam Frame's biggest highlights is streaming. The headset comes with a dedicated streaming stick that plugs into a USB 3 port on a computer. It then streams directly from the computer to the Frame using the 6GHz band.

Many reviewers have described the experience as having imperceptible lag.

The question is whether the streaming stick can be in one room while the headset is used in another, or whether both need to stay in the same room. A gaming PC may be in a small room without enough space for meaningful VR gaming, so streaming from another room could matter.

One game that would be interesting to see in VR is Steel Battalion: Heavy Armor. It is a mech simulator that Capcom and FromSoftware co-developed. The game is stuck on Kinect, and there is interest in bringing it to VR. The game has Kinect controls to deal with, but underneath those controls is a game that could be worth playing.

For the Steam Frame, the main questions now involve its price, battery life, VR game support, accessories, and how well its PC streaming works in real use. Reservations are already open, and anyone who wants the headset early needs to reserve before September 17th. Otherwise, the reservation could end up much further back in the queue.