At long last, after years of rumors, speculation, and delays, Valve has launched the Steam Frame headset. The final third of the company's hardware launch plans for 2026 has seen the lengthiest delay since its initial "early 2026" billing, but the VR headset is now available to reserve.
That means we now also have a confirmed price for the device. Its 256GB model will set you back $1,049 / £889, coming with the headset, controllers, and fan-favourite game Half-Life: Alyx bundled in. Or, its 1TB version will set you back $1,299 / £1,089.
You can reserve a Steam Frame now, as we suspected, using a very similar system to the Steam Controller and Steam Machine, which actually leaked last week through SteamDB. Essentially, you can sign up anytime between now and Thursday, September 17th at 10am Pacific. Then, on that date, Valve will do a one-time randomization of the signed-up names before sending out emails with the results of the randomization, letting you know if you're in the reservation queue or on the waitlist.
Valve has now also properly published the previously leaked/data mined overview and starter guide videos, which show how to get the best fit and use out of the headset. They also confirm that you can buy some separate accessory bundles for the Frame.
You can grab an Ergonomic Accessories Kit, which includes 2 controller hand straps, a headset top strap for increased fit and comfort, and an extended light blocker for if you have a differently sized nose. That will cost you $59 / £59. Alternatively, you can grab the Accessory Replacement Kit, which includes a face gasket, head cushion, and a standard light blocker. That'll set you back $49 / £49. Interestingly, the headset doesn't come with a PSU, so if you want one, you'll need to buy it separately for $29 / £29.
As we already knew, the Steam Frame features a 4nm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 ARM64 APU, 16GB of LPDDR5X RAM, and runs on SteamOS the same as a the Steam Deck and Steam Machine. It's got a resolution of 2160 x 2160 per eye with LCD displays that have a refresh rate of 72Hz spanning up to an experimental 144Hz. Valve says the headset has a horizontal FOV of "up to 110 degrees".
Tracking of the headset and its controllers happens inside-out using built-in cameras, so owners of Valve's previous Valve Index headset won't need to play around with tracking stations. The same can be said of wires, since the Steam Frame will work wirelessly and run games natively (there's a growing list of 100 games that are already "Frame verified") but you can also use a dongle that will stream gameplay from a laptop or gaming PC straight to the headset using a dedicated Wi-Fi 6E bandwidth (even though the headset itself has Wi-Fi 7 compatibility).
On battery life, the Frame has a rechargeable 21.6 Wh Li-ion battery.
Very much like the Steam Deck, the device running on SteamOS means you'll be able to play your entire Steam library on the go with it. The Steam Frame might have been designed as a VR headset, but you can enjoy non-VR games with it by connecting a controller of your own, the Steam Controller, or using the bundled VR controllers.
Earlier in the summer, when we were speculating the price of the Steam Frame, a majority of GamesRadar+ readers voted that it should cost between $899-$1,099, which is actually bang-on as a prediction. That was the result of 42% of the votes, with 25% of readers saying it should cost between $799-899, and 33% of folks arguing it should cost $699-$799. This price lands it higher than the 512GB Meta Quest 3, which is currently set at $599, but it's on par with other high-fidelity PCVR headsets like the HTC Vive Focus Vision and Samsung Galaxy XR. It's a lot more affordable than the Pimax Dream Air and Apple Vision Pro.
It's long been suspected that the Steam Frame (once codenamed Valve Deckard) would wear an estimated $1,000 price tag, or at least be more expensive than the Meta Quest visors, since those have been reportedly sold at a loss since Meta bought Oculus. I'll be interested to see how this price impacts the headset's popularity, however. VR gaming has always been a niche, and for the most part, a prohibitively expensive one, but since its reveal I've thought that the appeal and convenience of the Steam Frame could lead to it being the VR market's Steam Deck moment. Will that be the case when it costs a lot more than Valve's accessible handheld? Who's to say?
Pricing around a grand means fewer enthusiastic fans will be able to secure one of their own if their incomes don't allow, which is a high possibility in a consumer PC gaming market that's very pricey to exist in right now. When the Frame is already appealing to a niche segment of that market, it narrows the pool of early adopters further.
It could be that Valve has plans to support the headset long into the future, but bundling a homemade VR game that's six years old into the price of the headset doesn't exactly inspire much confidence that there's more software on the way for it - although I hope I'm wrong on that front.
I'd also have been interested to know what Valve's original pricing plans for the headset would be, considering delays and price changes almost certainly happened as a direct result of the ongoing RAM crisis.
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