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256 GB model: $1,059 USD
1TB model: $1,299 USD
Preorder list randomized, goes out Sept 17th
Power supply not included, costs $29 (same as Steam Deck power supply)
3rd party addon available for color passthrough, Arcturus Vision Camera, $149
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this is so crazy absurd. so damn expensive.
Wow. I was looking forward to one but I’m skeptical about the standalone mode.
I want to play games like No Mans Sky in VR but I don’t think that’s possible. My only gaming PC is a steam deck.
It really is meant to primarily be a PCVR headset
There is nothing I have ever seen or played in VR that could justify this price for me. I understand the tech is expensive, but I really am not willing to pay more than like $200 for something that feels like such a gimmick. If this is your thing though, have at it.
I wish it was cheaper but I would rather have VR without Meta at the wrong time and not great price than VR with Meta and the right time and great price.
Same here, I did love that the gamers nexus video opened with a comparison of the terms and privacy policy of meta and valve just to show how buying a Quest may be cheaper but it costs a lot more than the money you exchange for it.
Actually not terrible. Wow.
$1050 is not terrible for you? Ok…
I think a lot of people were worried that it would be ~2k from the way they were talking.
So still terrible but slightly less so? Specially considering the accessories (except the charger) are required according to reviewers. So the “real” minimum price is like $1400. And on top of it all it has monochrome passthrough? I really don’t see why people would buy this thing. I really wanted to get one but can’t justify the price.
The accessories are only $50 total besides the charger. So no, the “real minimum price” isn’t $1400. Quit fucking lying
Accessories kit - $60 Charger + cable - $30 Headstrap + headphones and battery - announced, no price yet. Please note that, for some reason, there is no 3.5mm jack. If you want to use an external battery and headphones, you’ll have to buy some sort of splitter.
So yeah, far lower at $1149. It’s still way too expensive.
Lastly, take a chill pill. Sounds like you need it.
The accessories kit is really the only “mandatory” thing on this list due to the hand straps for the controllers. The top strap for the headset seems to be personal taste with some people hating it and some people needing it.
Charger + cable - $30 Most people already have chargers and cables for this, even for 45W.
Please note that, for some reason, there is no 3.5mm jack This has been a thing with smartphones and motherboards for years. This is too old to actually ve an argument anymore. If someone wants to use 3mm jack they most likely already have a splitter
Headstrap + headphones and battery - announced, no price yet That’s not really even announced yet. It’s an “fyi we’re wanting to dp this in a few months” they told reviewers
Quite being pedantic just because you got called out for being wrong.
You need to use a double linebreak after a quote to separate your response btw.
Most people already have chargers and cables for this, even for 45W.
Do you have any type of source for this? I know plenty of people that only have a 15/20w charger for their phone.
This has been a thing with smartphones and motherboards for years. This is too old to actually ve an argument anymore. If someone wants to use 3mm jack they most likely already have a splitter
It’s been a problem for years, yes. That doesn’t make it less of a problem. Also, I’ve yet to see a single motherboard that doesn’t have a 3.5mm jack. Lastly, why would you assume that they’d have a splitter? Now you’re not only expected to have dongles but also splitters? For a device that costs over 1k? Honestly, you’re playing yourself if you really think this isn’t an issue.
That’s not really even announced yet. It’s an “fyi we’re wanting to dp this in a few months” they told reviewers
That’s irrelevant. If you want to use it standalone or for a long period of time, this “accessory” will be a requirement.
Quite being pedantic just because you got called out for being wrong.
Having a different opinion is not something you can be right or wrong about. There’s this wonderful thing called “points of view”. You might want to look into it.
They said they were going for a price under the Index 999€ price point.
Then the rampocalypse happened, and they said they weren’t going to make it. I was expecting a 1200€ minimum.
So only being like 50€ over their target is not really bad.
Well, it is highly likely that at least some of the accessories were at one point just part of the base product. So I think they were off by quite a bit more than $50. Even so, being above an already pretty high target price IS bad imo.
Why is everyone so concerned with passthrough these days? MR apps are the worst XR apps of them all
For now. Software is constantly changing. Plus, even my very old gearvr had color pasthrough.
And, when you consider that valve is partially putting out this device to stoke vr/ar/mr enthusiasm, I would have liked to try a headset with great pasthrough. I tried the apple headset right as it came out in a store, and the headset was awesome, but lived in a closed wall garden. The passthrough on it was awesome. That xr keeps taking steps backwards is tragic every single time.
I guess now I know what it must’ve been like in the 80s when vr was this cool tehcno fantasy that went nowhere until basically palmer lucky spits on floor.
Edit: i forgot to really answer. Because passthrough is part of vr. Also because it’s cool. Also because it’s still novel to me and I want to play with it. Also because maybe I would have made something with it. Also because backwards progress is sad and annoying and feels bad.
IYKYK…
All jokes aside, one reason is MR to watch a movie while being able to see outside. Another is when you kneed to step out of the room for just a moment or talk to someone that just came in or maybe even just grab the controllers while seeing what you’re doing.
Do you really think cameras with color are that much of an ask in 2026 on a device that costs over $1k?
I just assumed they were more performant for their actual task of tracking. Everything else is secondary.
This is just an assumption, but, if true, give me the improved tracking over color passthrough any day.
Not that color passthrough wouldn’t be nice. But I don’t think it’s a cost saving technique
Well, I happen tl have dabbled a bit in image processing and applying a mask to make the image grayscale has a negligible (if not inexistent) impact in performance. I do admit that I’m unaware if there’s another characteristic this cameras have that make them better for tracking. If they do, it’s pretty weird that Valve hasn’t mentioned it.
The addon costs $150, if they increased the price by $150 and had color passthrough included in the box, you would be happy, but everyone who would be forced to buy cameras for a use case they are not interested in wouldn’t be.
Imo all of your use cases for color passthrough are weak. You want distractions from a movie? You need to step outside, take the headset off lol.
If they launched at $1200 way more people would be complaining about the price
They’re already using a literal phone soc that HAS CAMERAS. Having two color cameras on board probably would have cost much much less than an external, $150, third party module, like maybe a tenth of that at scale so like maybe $15 more. OoooOOOOOooooo scary
They likely made compromises like this all over the device to keep the price as low as possible, this (and the ergo pack) is just one that they errored on and probably should have just included.
Like the other guy said, using color cameras would not have costed much more. This is an expensive device with some budget entry-level features. There’s no excuse.
I really wanted to get one but can’t justify the price.
So what was your, uh, upper limit on the budget there?
Go look up the price of what the last ram kit, ssd, or SD card you bought costs right now, I guarantee you’re going to be surprised. No one likes the price, but I was ready for it to be way worse.
That doesn’t make this price not terrible. It just alligns with the terribleness we exepect nowadays.
Price is relative
Price is objective. Cost is relative. The price is high and the cost is poor when compared to other offerings.
The cost is high, the price is relatively cheap because materials cost too much due to the slop bubble
Do you have the BOM to substantiate your claims or are you just winging it? This device does not seem to be that much better than a pico 4 ultra to justify the price difference.
It can do more than some $3500 headsets (run desktop class applications natively)
That’s so extremely vague that I don’t even know how to respond. What’s desktop class for you? x86? What type of “apps” would you want to run on a vr headset?
Basically games that were only written to run on Windows. If someone likes the idea of playing, say, Ori and the Blind Forest, on a virtual movie theater screen, this is a way to do that, no porting from the original authors needed.
Afaik, the list of titles you can do that with is around 130. On top of that, the “great on frame” baseline is 30fps at 720p. If you also take into account the fact that the snapdragon 8 gen 3 is already 3 years old and how little the Steam Frame battery lasts, then the whole idea starts to sound a lot worse.
Is it cool you can do it? Sure. Would you actually want to do it and will you have a good time? Not sure, but doesn’t sound like it.
Okay, but what are your other options?
Pcvr?
it still seems like a good experience for flights
Better bring a few battery packs. Battery on standalone lasts like 1.5hrs.
your negativity wont stop us from running firefox and text editors on it. a wayland compositor placed in 3D space, anyone?
That’s not a thing exclusive to the steam frame. But sure, have fun.
I’d definitely take the 256GB model, if it was available in my country… 😢
What country? I’m on the list. I don’t necessarily need it but if someone really wants it and will pay for the whole thing and the insane shipping costs…
Switzerland, and yeah if you don’t mind let’s give it a shot and cross fingers! 🤞
As a 1990s kid, I’m still stubbornly waiting for VR to be the big spinny thing you get into like Pierce Brosnan.
I love to hate to love that film. The Stephen King short story it was based on was about a man who saw that his landscaper was working in league with a demon and ended up being hunted for his discovery. The movie was an absolute assault of mid-nineties cyber-slop. VR! SGI CG! Hollywood OS! Gyroscopes are cool! But, one of the characters did have a lawnmower. Fucking brilliant. Did you know that Stephen King sued the movie makers to keep his name off the project, twice, and won, also twice? Love it.
The lottery is cool but too bad this time they don’t allow you to join the list for both options to increase your chances of getting one in the first batch. I decided to go with the 256GB one. I don’t think I’ll be using it standalone very much, so I don’t really need the extra storage. And while I believe there will be more people signing up for that one, there will also be more units available, making the chances pretty much equal. Obviously, saving 200+ euros is a plus too.
69€ for the pretty much mandatory “Ergonomic Accessories” pack is just dumb, imo. For a 1000+ euros product I would expect that stuff to be included.
The lottery is cool but too bad this time they don’t allow you to join the list for both options to increase your chances of getting one in the first batch.
Its an anti scalping measure. That seems counter to preventing scalping
With the Steam Machine you could sign up for all 4 of the options, but you were only given the option to purchase 1 of them, not all that you signed up for. So, yes, it was anti-scalping.
The primary anti scalping mechanisim Valve employes is randomizing delivery order. Being in line first because you have the fastest bot does not guarantee getting the goods first.
The original commentator is complaining they can’t join the waiting list multiple times for the express purpose of “increase your chances of getting one in the first batch”. That would give scalpers a potential way to get more of an advantage. And runs directly counter to anti scalping.
You are complaining you can’t decide what you want once you get through which is a different issue. Though allowing that would likely make waitlists muchore complex
I don’t fully get how this change helps with scalpers. Just like nocturne wrote, with the Steam Machine you were still only given the option to buy the one SKU where you landed highest on the list after the lists were randomized.
And it’s not that big of a deal obviously. But doing it like this created an unnecessary dilemma about which list to join. While I actually wanted the 256GB one, I was seriously considering joining the 1TB list because there are probably fewer people going for that one, which could potentially increase your chances. But then you start thinking about how some people probably have the same idea, potentially negating the effect…
The whole thing turned into an unnecessary headache lol, so I just stopped thinking about it and went for the 256GB one.
DOA. Maybe it’s not fair because it’d probably be $700 and in my budget if memory and storage had stayed steady instead of ballooned, but I’m not interested in this or the machine at the prices they are debuting at
I’m sure others are interested. $1000 is what I thought it’d cost too.
I’m pretty sure they literally talked about this at launch. One of them said “we wish this could have been the price we had for it even a year ago.”
Fuck AI.
Is it because of the inbuild computer?
As someone with a gaming PC already, I’m confused why we want to pay for the headset to have a computer capable of running some small games on its own? Is there a good option for VR with an existing computer?
This is the good option for VR with an existing computer. ‘Good’ being relative
Considering everything else they’ve been putting out right now has been selling out quickly despite price increases, it’s probably going to do just fine.
But I for one am also priced out of it, so. 🫠
Damn it.
Thrillseeker put up a pretty good hands-on report recently. I do a lot of sim driving in VR and I mainly just want to get off the Quest/Meta ecosystem. It was either this or the Pimax Crystal Light, and I think this is the more versatile machine.
Can the smaller model be upgraded at a later time? Is the internal storage upgradeable?
Doesn’t look like the internal storage can be though it does have a microSD slot.
Thanks! Sigh…From experience with the Steam Deck, internal storage is quite a lot faster than even a really good microSD.
EDIT: And…I got mine. 1TB. There’s no lottery in Asia, just your FCFS with a queuing kiosk that keeps failing back to a “we are in maintenance”. But for about 5mins, it was working, long enough for me to get mine ordered. I guess no nice treats for me for a while…
Can’t wait to see how much better these get in a decade or two. I still don’t really feel like it’s advanced enough for me to give up on regular screen gaming, but it seems pretty cool.
Needs some games where depth perception is important. Like, american truck simulator is a good start, but maybe construction simulator where you need to operate a digger arm?
I’m happy it’s here and probably will get one down the line. Equally as mad that it’s surely gone up in price thanks to all the AI and other bullshit, not only not costing less than Valve Index (as had been originally rumored, I think), but more.
Super sour about the not included PSU. Hate it about the smartphone market, too.
But as a VR enjoyer, I’m still happy.
As someone who has never played with VR much but would consider a Steam Frame in the future what kind of things do you enjoy it with?
I loved The 7th Guest VR
I use VR primarily for seated simulation games. Flight sims, racing, space… VR brings a whole new level of immersion and situational awareness that makes these sort of sims better, and makes me better at playing them.
One of the few times I played around with VR was a racing game and it was awesome, but I’m not a big racing games person so my concern is that would not have much value beyond novelty.
I Expect You to Die, the game series. Funny room escape secret agent story game series. Does a great job of utilizing VR controls and room layout without requiring you to leave your seat. Also has an interesting story to it.
Looks awesome thanks for sharing
Why are you asking if your response to every example use case is “that’s just a novelty”? All games are novelties in one sense or another. What are you looking for?
Like something with a narrative or maybe simulation or strategy. But “racing except VR” is just a novelty for me. I guess what I mean is not arcade style games that exist just to be fun/addicting.
I’m not against that sort of thing by any means it’s just not enough to justify buying it for me.
“Narrative but VR”, “simulation or strategy but VR” sound like novelties to me.
I don’t think VR is for you mate, and that’s okay.
The VR game is Beat Saber, hands down. Hands up. Hands down. Hands up. Hands down.
Oh I would 100% get that one but also I’m not looking to spend $1k purely on VR novelty games
I agree with the other guy. Beat Saber is not a novelty game. It’s easy to have short, self-contained experiences with it, but that’s not the same thing. It’s extremely fun on its own merit and worthy of putting dozens to hundreds to thousands of hours into it. I would also put it at the very top of the “exercise game” genre (see a lot of stuff on the Wii), because of how well it masks being very active behind just being fun and because getting better at the game ties more directly to you physically getting better than just about any other game.
That said, I think it’s only a 10/10 game if you’re willing to mod it to add custom songs (there’s literally hundreds of thousands the community has mapped) and a 6/10 game if you aren’t. I haven’t bought any of the DLCs, so maybe it’s an 8/10 with those. I think the modding is extremely easy, but I also know there are a lot of people not interested in doing that even when it’s literally a couple clicks.
Former vive owner here. Beat saber isn’t a novelty it is legitimately something to spend dozens of hours on. I’m buying either a frame or a used index specifically for beat saber.
Dozens? 👀
I’m the number one beat saber player in the world because nobody told me these things!
That’s impressive. Would you recommend this game to newbies?
Absolutely! Beat Saber is the best!
I’m in the GENX clan where we have grandmothers capturing maps for the clan by getting some absurd level of accuracy on 1-5 ⭐ (aka super easy) maps. Clan Wars on BeatLeader is a silly thing that doesn’t mean anything in particular but it still amazes me that someone in their 60s can play a VR game and actually make a real, quantifiable difference.
On our Discord you can see the BeatLeader Clan Wars announcements in the “Battle Dispatch” channel. On any given day you really could see something like:
EvilKittyMom captured BREAKSH!T Hard for GENX, getting 98.17% ACC(That’s an imaginary name I just made up to protect the totally guilty party that often steals my thunder 🤣)
It’s so much fun, I love it! ❤️
How…how many dozens of hours you spend on it to be #1?
Dozens of dozens!
I play about an hour every day unless I’m sick, away, or (painfully) injured. I think my most recent play streak was over 6 months of playing every day without a single day off.
I’m a 48yo, BTW 😁👍
I think some of the best VR games are unofficial ports of flat games like Jedi Outcast or Alien Isolation. In my opinion VR is the definitive way of playing Doom 3.
To add to this: there’s also mods for most new resident evil games, Minecraft, Neon White, Outer Wilds, Firewatch, and A LOT more. Beardo Benjo is pretty decent at covering these.
Half Life: Alyx, Beat Saber, Superhot, Budget Cuts, Space Pirate Trainer, Waltz of the Wizard etc. are all great VR games. If you like horror games, the FNAF series, The Forest, etc. also has some great VR games.
There are other tangentially fun things to do with VR, too. I watch movies in BigScreen with friends and family sitting on a virtual couch together. VRChat is fun to just meet and chat with people. This headset also plays 2D games, which I’m intrigued by, both on headset and streaming. I can stream Steam games on my Quest headset, too, but it’s lower resolution on the Quest 2.
I’m happy with the fex coming out that someone is very likely to get all the unreal engine vr mods to play nicely with Linux. So many community projects showed up on github when the steam deck came out, just having a dedicated community based around a standard piece of hardware seems to bring enough hype to get shit done. Really excited for the possibility of arch64 Linux phone distros that people make due to this.
Other than that I’m worried theres not enough vr games, and I’m highly certain the steam frame isnt going to bring a new wave of vr devs like the quest 2 did.
Most the vr games I played consistently where multiplayer and have all died off, and for me theres not much else, the other titles its more of a novelty. Majority of titles are the equivalent of walking the plank simulator and charge 20 bucks still, while still feeling like an shitty free game off the google play store.
I’d want it for all the other things like 3d modeling, or other weird applications that are more tinkering focused. I’m excited that its Linux I might be able to set up some kind of UI/HUD, or actually engage with the hardware in some meaningful way. I just don’t see vr taking off again to the point where I can justify 1k USD purchase, I pretty much only played 1 game when I had a quest and the measly 300 dollars the quest costed was hard enough to justify so I could play a single 10 dollar multiplayer game.
I think it’s fine if VR stays niche. The tech alone is compelling enough to not disappear even if Valve themselves never make another headset, and the work by hobbyists and tinkerers keeps getting better and more expansive every year, so the path is upwards regardless.
If you’ve never tried it, Google Earth VR is tons of fun! I don’t know what it is about looking at little miniature cities, but it’s just so compelling. Also fun is when you turn on human-scale and actually have to look up at the buildings and such as you walk or fly through the city, or the Grand Canyon, or whatever!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/451010/Kittypocalypse/
Pick something fun and short (not skyrim vr) for having something heavy on your face makes everything exhausting and sweaty. Beatsaber sounds dumb but its the perfect fit for the medium Hmm actually cut that, the perfect fit for the medium is porn
Minecraft should work pretty well in it via ViveCraft, if you’re comfortable modding. It officially supports Linux play
I really enjoy VR chat. My IRL friends go to movie worlds there to stream anything we want and watch it together regularly, although you don’t need a headset for that just makes it more fun.
You can also do No Mans Sky and Subnautica in VR. I did it for the Forest and that was fun.
I’m blown away that no one has mentioned lone echo 1 and 2. IMO they are the crown jewel of the best use of the VR medium for immersive gameplay and story telling, surpassing even half life alyx.
I’m blown away that no one has mentioned lone echo 1 and 2.
Because they had asked for recommendations on what to do with a Steam Frame, but those are Oculus exclusives.
Do you liek trains? Derail Valley Simulator, a game that started out as funny physics meme turned hyper realistic train engineer job simulator. You get to realistically drive big chugga chugga choo choo - or a diesel electric if you’re boring. They also have the funny pump handle cart
Lmao imagine asking someone on Lemmy if they like trains OF COURSE I LIKE TRAINS GREAT RECOMMENDATION
For me at least I don’t use any of my original usb device chargers. I have a GaN charger with 2 cables by the sofa and one by my desk.
I totally use the 45w charger that came with my steam deck oled. It’s nice. This looks to be the same one.
Super sour about the not included PSU. Hate it about the smartphone market, too.
I have like 3k of these things, so personally I’m very happy to not have to spend another $30 on a worse one that’s just going to get chucked in a drawer anyway.
I feel the same way about smartphones not including chargers. The third-party charger that I already have is likely better than whatever charger comes with the phone, so the one that comes with the phone will just go unused. I understand that manufacturers are not going to “pass the savings onto the consumer” when they don’t include a charger, but at least it doesn’t feel like e-waste. I felt the same way about the headphones that would come with devices for a while. Just a waste that I will never use.
On the other hand, having a stock charger could aid in troubleshooting by offering a baseline of sorts. Being able to say “I can’t do X, even with the stock charger” can go a long way. Without the stock charger, tech support could wonder if maybe your third-party charger is to blame for your issue. The other benefit of included chargers are when the device uses some weird charging technology or something that makes the included charger actually better for that device than the third-party one that I already have.
Super sour about the not included PSU. Hate it about the smartphone market, too.
Tbh, we’ve collectively been getting so many usb chargers and cables with devices over the years that most people probably don’t need more of them. I’m generally fine with it being an optional accessory so long as 3rd party options work since it reduces E-waste and somewhat reduces the price for people who already have chargers
Price is alright given the market conditions, but the lottery really ticks me off.
Would you rather their entire stock gets bought up by bots to be scalped?
No, I’d love there to be enough supply for the vast majority of prospective buyers.
I don’t understand this comment at all… Surely valve would also want to have enough supply for every single person who wants one to give them their money. But we live in the real world with real material and logistical constraints, so isn’t the lottery the best solution to getting the limited devices in the hands of people who actually want to use it?
Imo the lottery is the most fair way of doing it. Instead of people being lucky to be awake/available right as the announcement dropped, everyone has the same chance of being placed early in the queue.
The lottery is fine, it’s the fact it’s even necessary I abhor.
I tried to pre order a zelda anniversary and was too busy and ended up trying to buy it an hour after orders opened and I couldn’t buy it (unless I paid 2x the price on ebay). Lottery is the much better way to do preorders.
Or, you know, producing enough to meet demand from the start. People have gotten so used to sought after items being in short supply, the thought that companies can actually gauge demand quite well and could produce enough stock doesn’t even cross their mind anymore.
I feels like you’re underestimated the word “enough” here. It’s a niche product, no one know what’s the actual demand vs scalper, and certainly no one can know what amount is “enough”.
Also ram is hard to get.
Please suggest an alternative, then, that prevents scalping and doesn’t only favor the specific demographic that you are in.
Certainly the device could register to a specific account and notify them if/when a different primary account takes control. If I’ve been playing steam games for 20 years using the same account I should be able to be verified as doing that and order hardware without them being concerned about scalping, especially if the hardware will only work if my account is the primary one allowed to use it.
Oh no, the lottery is the most fair way to deal with expected demand far exceeding supply, no question about that.
I just long for a time when there was enough supply right from the start. I can’t remember having to queue or wait weeks for sought-after electronics in my youth. I don’t even blame Valve here, it seems to be more common everywhere now.
Even if we ignore the silicon shortage, it doesn’t make sense for Valve to set up the facilities and supply chains to fully satisfy the day-one demand, only to shut them down months later when the demand falls off and no longer justifies the expense of operating them. The up-front cost of setting up additional factories, especially for the custom high precision optics, would be a massive waste. The other option would be to build up a larger stockpile before the product is released, but then you’d still be waiting all the same.
In terms of hardware, Valve is not a significant player. They sell niche products meant for enthusiasts, and the lottery is the most pragmatic way to get them into hands.
