valve steam frame

Valve’s Steam Frame Is Now Open For Preorder, If You Have A Grand Or So

7 Comments | pc, steam, steam frame, Steam VR, video games | By | | 2 minutes of reading

Valve picked an awkward time to expand into hardware. The owner of Steam, the PC gaming platform everybody uses, has tried making devices to play those games on in the past, but they never truly broke through until the Steam Deck. Naturally they would like to ride that success and introduce an entire line of similar products, but not if the current RAM crisis has anything to say about it.

Valve was forced to introduce its home console, the Steam Machine, at a price of over a thousand bucks. Now they’re going to have to do the same for the Steam Frame, their VR headset. The set was fully revealed today as well as how much it will set you back.

The Steam Frame runs on a 4 nm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 – ARM64 processor and comes with 16GB Unified LPDDR5X RAM, both of which are at a premium. The lowest-priced Steam Frame is the 256GB storage model, which costs $1,059, but if that’s not sufficient, the 1TB model gives you four times as much storage for $1,299. The box also includes two Steam Frame Controllers, one for each hand, and a redeemable copy of Half-Life: Alyx.

Unfortunately the box does not come with something you need: the charger. If you’ve got a Steam Deck charger it will work for the Frame, but you can also purchase a 45W power supply for $29. Replacement parts and accessories are also available already, in case someone breaks their Frame out of the box.

The Steam Frame should have no problem selling out its initial batch, which will mostly be snapped up by scalpers….but after that quiets down, will their customers be willing to support the thing? We’ll all find out in the months ahead. You can check out the Frame on the Steam store.

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Avatar of San Goku
San Goku

Member

747 messages 3 likes
#1 4 weeks ago

I find it interesting that Valve continues to get into hardware, but I'm a bit skeptical about the price point. A grand feels like a lot for something that might not offer a significant leap in gameplay experience compared to traditional setups. Their previous hardware attempts, while innovative, didn't always land with consumers, so I'm curious how this one will fare.

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Avatar of Lemuronmyshoulder
Lemuronmyshoulder

There is a Lemur on my shoulder

319 messages 1 like
#2 4 weeks ago

1059 dollars for a headset is a lot of money right now. I understand the RAM prices are causing problems everywhere, but this feels like a device made for people who already have money to spend, not the average gamer who just wants to try VR. Half-Life Alyx being included is a nice touch though, that game alone is worth a lot to VR fans. I just hope Valve drops the price once the RAM situation calms down, because right now this is out of reach for a lot of us. I will wait and see what reviews say before I even think about buying one.

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Avatar of Vaccine Vaccine Vaccine
Vaccine Vaccine Vaccine

New Member

65 messages 1 like
#3 4 weeks ago

Scalpers are going to eat this up on day one, calling it now. Anything Valve releases sells out fast and then shows up on resale sites for double the price. I feel bad for people who actually want to use this for gaming and not flipping it for profit.

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Avatar of Walley5823
Walley5823

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303 messages 15 likes
#4 4 weeks ago

Half-Life Alyx alone almost makes the price worth it for me. That game changed how I think about VR completely. Still a tough purchase though.

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Avatar of Negan Fox
Negan Fox

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295 messages 9 likes
#5 4 weeks ago

No charger included is such a strange decision for a device this expensive. At least Steam Deck chargers work with it, that saves people from buying an extra accessory right away. But if you don't already own a Steam Deck, that is another 29 dollars on top of an already huge price tag. Small details like this add up and make the whole package feel less generous than it should for over a thousand dollars.

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Avatar of Ethan Kirchner
Ethan Kirchner

Dogma of the Dragons

288 messages 4 likes
#6 4 weeks ago

Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 with only 16GB RAM for this price does not sit right with me. I build my own PC and I know component prices are rough right now, but companies need to stop passing every cost directly onto customers without eating some of it themselves.

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Avatar of UniversalDreamer
UniversalDreamer

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302 messages 15 likes
#7 4 weeks ago

Honestly I am tired of every gaming company blaming RAM prices for their expensive products. Yes the market is bad right now, that part is true and documented everywhere. But Valve has been printing money from Steam for years, they could absorb some of this cost instead of passing all of it straight to us. This is not a small indie company struggling to survive, this is one of the richest companies in gaming. I want VR to succeed and grow, I really do, but pricing it like a luxury item is not the way to get new people interested in the hardware.

1TB model for 1299 actually seems like the better deal here if you can afford the jump. 256GB fills up so fast with modern game sizes.

I remember when the original Steam Deck felt expensive and now this makes that price look reasonable by comparison. Crazy how fast things change.

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