Updated on
Valve announced the Steam Frame in November 2025 for early 2026; memory shortages delayed it, and reservations finally opened in September 2026.
In November 2025, Valve announced the Steam Frame, a standalone VR headset that runs VR and regular Steam games locally through SteamOS or streams them wirelessly from a PC. Ars Technica framed it as Valve's return to VR hardware, six years after the Valve Index and Half-Life: Alyx. The launch date was early 2026, and no price was given.
The specs were respectable: a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 with 16 GB of RAM, a 2160 x 2160 display per eye, a field of view of "up to 110 degrees" and up to 144 Hz. Ars called that roughly in line with the Meta Quest 3. There are 256 GB and 1 TB models, both with microSD expansion. Inside-out tracking cameras remove the need for base stations, which also means old SteamVR controllers do not work with it.
Early 2026 did not hold. In February, Valve said that memory and storage shortages meant it had to revisit pricing and shipping for the Steam Frame and the Steam Machine. Game Developer attributes the shortage to AI data center demand. Valve still aimed for the first half of 2026, but that target slipped too.
According to VR.org, Valve opened reservations on September 14, 2026. It used a randomized lottery rather than regular preorders. The 256 GB kit costs $1,059 and the 1 TB kit $1,299, both with controllers, the wireless adapter and Half-Life: Alyx; the power supply is $29 extra. Selected buyers had 72 hours to complete the purchase. Wikipedia lists September 18, 2026 as the release date and notes Valve warned in February that prices would come in higher than anticipated.
VR.org also reports that over 100 games were verified compatible at launch and that no first-party launch title shipped alongside the headset. That matters, because the Index had Half-Life: Alyx as its showcase and this launch has no equivalent.
Our view: the hardware plan survived, but the schedule and the price did not. A lottery for a $1,000-plus headset says demand is not the problem; supply is. We would wait for independent reviews and for the first batch of buyers to report how streaming from a PC actually behaves.
Related articles from LaRebelión
Apple tightens full-disk access to rein in AI agents
OpenAI probes more possible AI hacking incidents after the Hugging Face breach
OpenAI Reports Rogue AI Agents Affecting Over 100 OrganizationsOriginal source: Ars Technica
Produced with AI support and reviewed by the newsroom
Comentarios
Publicar un comentario