Last week, I added a poll to a report I wrote up about the upcoming Steam Frame. Since we're still waiting on a price and release date for the new visor, I asked what price you think it should be. Honestly, I'm a little surprised by the results, and maybe even a little worried that the results might enable Valve to charge a lot for its new VR headset.
In a total pool of 738 votes, a safe lead of 33% of folks said that the Steam Frame should cost between $699-$799. This bracket would land it above the full-fat Meta Quest 3, but underneath the most recent generation of elite gaming handheld PCs. Personally, this is the price I'd like to see it launch at, but with the current economy of the tech world being as it is (thanks a lot, AI companies), I wouldn't be at all surprised if this range is a pipe dream.
For context, here's a look at the prices of the closest competition Steam Frame will have. The Meta Quest 3 is probably the closest since it has the biggest mainstream/PC following, while PSVR 2 is competitive in terms of its gaming features:
Meta Quest 3 512GB: $599 at Amazon / £469 at Amazon
PSVR 2: $465 at Best Buy / £389 at Very
25% of readers who responded to the poll said that the Steam Frame should be priced between $799 - $899 as a happy medium. Combined with the 244 votes for the answer above, the 184 votes here cast a majority of 58% of people who think the Steam Frame should cost under $899.
That part is reassuring; I certainly wouldn't like to see a Steam VR headset costing more than that since it's too near to the Valve Index, which was known as a prohibitively pricey bit of technology. What worries me, and what I hope Valve doesn't see, is the 42% of voters who said the new goggles should cost between $899-$1,099.
The state of the gaming hardware market is in disrepair right now, with rising costs, stock shortages, and a potential (scary) future where no one can afford to truly own anything. I fully expect the Steam Frame to be priced somewhere in these higher ranges, but I sure hope it isn't.
VR as a whole feels like it's on the ropes right now, or at least, that's my perception as someone who covers the industry from week to week.
I love VR gaming and think it has a really strong future ahead of it, but getting people to see that is only going to get more difficult if we continue to see the biggest, mainstream headsets cost that much. The Apple Vision Pro definitely seemed like an alluring concept until Apple decided to pour a bottle of hot sauce in its eyes by charging over $3,000 for it.
Let's not forget also that VR is a more niche side of gaming tech to begin with when compared to a Steam Machine, other PC, or games console. That means the potential number of people interested in buying it will be smaller, so you're narrowing down the potential consumer base for the Steam Frame if you price it prohibitively.
152 people voted for $899-$999 in the poll, and 158 voters said the Frame should cost $999-$1,099, so both answers had 41% to their names.
Maybe it's time to address the wording of the question, because I do think that could have come into play with the results. I'm sure there were plenty of people voting as though the question asked what price the headset will be. In that case, those votes for the more expensive options could be more pessimistic than they are an expression of desire.
But the question was how much should it cost, so that does lean the results into what people could want it to cost, either for the benefit of consumers or Valve.
To make it more accurate to what funds people have at their disposal to see what prices might impact Valve's sales, maybe I should have asked: "How much would you be willing to pay for the Steam Frame?"
I know I expected a much clearer-cut lean toward the cheaper options because who on earth wants to pay more than they have to for technology these days.
Regardless of the question wording and the nitty-gritty of what you folks thought when answering, the results do perhaps point to a Steam Frame that's more expensive than the majority of gamers would like it to. Yes, the sample size here is fairly small and hardly anything official, but with this long a wait for an official price announcement, I think any indication of what people are expecting is worth paying attention to.
I just hope Valve doesn't see this and think it'll be okay to charge even more than it was planning to because of those 42% of folks who voted for the more expensive options. Yes, that's unlikely, but you've all had your chance. If that were to happen, we'd probably never know, but I'll be blaming you lot.
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