In 2012, The Verge broke the news that Valve was making a game console. Gabe Newell himself dished on the company’s grand plans. By 2015, the “Steam Machines” had utterly flopped. But Valve never stopped quietly working on the idea. The Steam Deck handheld became the seed for a grand reboot of Valve’s console and headset ambitions. And now, Steam Machines are back.
The new Steam Machine is for your TV, the Steam Controller is for your hands, and the Steam Frame is for your face — and they might just be the start. The company hinted there might be more SteamOS hardware later on.
We’re tracking Valve’s rebooted hardware plans in this Verge StoryStream. And if you want to know how we got here, it also contains our original Steam Machine coverage — going back over a decade.
- Some Steam Frame updates:
- SteamOS 0.4 offers up to 12 percent battery life gain and fixes some streaming issues. And “Fixed an issue where the dashboard would recenter unnecessarily for some users” sounds like me!
- Valve released the CAD files if you want to design / 3D print accessories.
- Got a reservation? You can log in to see if it’ll arrive by December… or in 2027.
- Pimax is trying to leapfrog the Steam Frame and Steam Machine.
The company’s got a rep for optics among VR diehards, and it’s just announced the $1400 Crystal Pro. It’s a standalone headset with eye-tracking foveated streaming like the Steam Frame — now with uncompressed video over an optional (and pricy) 60GHz link. Pimax also has gamepad wands that snap together, the headset has a tethered external battery, and it’s launching a powerful mini-PC that looks like a taller Steam Machine clone. FAQ here.
1/5Images: Pimax - Steam Frame mission debriefing.
I didn’t just review Valve’s Steam Frame last week — I spent a whole lot of time talking about the headset with fellow reviewers. I interviewed CNET’s Scott Stein about his review on The Vergecast, then Aftermath’s Chris Person turned the tables on me for Aftermath Hours, too!
There’s one intriguing thing we all agree on.
- Valve has already fixed the Steam Frame’s slow charging speeds.
Valve’s 0.3.0 update for Steam Frame claims “Substantially faster charging while unit is off / sleeping.” It’s true. I used to see 8-watt charging when plugging in a dead unit, and 27-watt charging at peak. Now I’m getting 19-21W charging right away and up to 42W in game.
That’s enough to plug in a dead Frame and start playing right away.
Play and charge: check. Photo by Sean Hollister / The Verge - Virtual Desktop dev says he’ll ‘try to bring the app’ to Steam Frame.
The Steam Frame and Meta Quest headsets can natively beam your Windows monitors into a headset — but some still prefer Virtual Desktop, the app that pioneered the idea in 2016 before getting “sherlocked” by Meta. Developer Guy Godin says Valve didn’t send him a Frame, but he’ll try to port it anyhow.
Technically, I can already stream Virtual Desktop Classic, with working 3D video, but my monitors are stitched together and the controls feel awkward.
Here’s Virtual Desktop Classic streamed from my PC to Steam Frame. A standalone version with passthrough would be better. Screenshot by Sean Hollister / The Verge - Valve has open-sourced Lepton, its tool to bring Android games to Steam.
“Lepton is intended to help game developers bring their VR Android games to the Steam Frame,” Valve writes. “Lepton is not designed for general Android use, instead opting to keep the bare minimum functionality required to launch into games.”
Developers have already used it to port Meta Quest games to the Steam Frame. But could it do more?
frame-public / lepton[GitLab]
- iFixit now has guides for repairing your Steam Machine.
The new guides cover everything from replacing the motherboard to cleaning the heatsink, and offer a neat look at the Steam Machine’s internals.
1/3Image: iFixit - Steam Frame AMA time.
I’m hopping in now to answer your questions, and I’ve got a Steam Frame on my desk to spot-check answers, too!
I reviewed Valve’s Steam Frame, ask me anything
Sean Hollister Valve’s virtual reality plans hit actual reality
Photo: Kelsey McClellan / The VergeThe Steam Frame headset is here, and it may not surprise you: it was supposed to cost less than $1,059. “We set out to come out with a device that would have been far more affordable, but the global RAM market, the global storage market have impacted us the same way they’ve impacted everybody,” Valve developer Jeremy Selan told the BBC. “We fought hard to get it even to this price.”
I haven’t yet seen Valve say whether it’s selling the Steam Frame at cost, like the company confirmed it was doing with the $1,049 Steam Machine living room PC. But Valve developer Pierre-Loup Griffais hinted maybe so in an interview with Tom’s Hardware: “there’s not really any sort of the kind of distortion compared to just the price of the parts in there.”
Read Article >- See what it’s like to use the Steam Frame.
Did you think the Steam Frame was a VR headset? As I explain in my review, it does a lot more. Here, step into the lenses with me and I’ll show you. (Also on YouTube, if you’d rather!)
- The Steam Frame’s modular attachments are already intriguing.
Wish Valve’s headset let you see your surroundings in full color instead of monochrome? In my hand is the $150 Arcturus Vision Camera, which can solve that (see images below). Need more battery and better audio? Pop the compute core into Valve’s upcoming “Enthusiast Kit” to add twin stackable magnetic batteries, premium off-ear drivers, and more.
1/5The Arcturus Vision Camera accessory. Photo: Kelsey McClellan / The Verge I reviewed Valve’s Steam Frame, ask me anything
Photo: Kelsey McClellan / The VergeHey! I’m Sean Hollister, you might have seen me around this place a few times, and I just spent three weeks beta-testing the Steam Frame, Valve’s hotly anticipated new don’t-call-it-a-VR-headset that might also be an early glimpse at the future of games that run everywhere.
At 4PM ET today (that’s 1PM PT for West Coasters like me!), I will answer as many of your questions as humanly possible about this headset, its controllers, its ergonomic accessories kit, and the Arcturus Vision Camera in a subscriber-only AMA. If you want me to test something special for you, get your question in ASAP — I’ll see if I can try it between now and then!
Read Article >Valve has ported Half-Life: Alyx to ARM, and it’s free with Steam Frame
Image: ValveToday, Valve is launching its first headset since 2019 — the new Steam Frame — while dodging our questions about whether it’ll ever make another VR game to go with it. But buyers of the $1,059 gadget will get one flagship VR game anyhow, and it’s great.
Every Steam Frame comes with a copy of 2020’s Half-Life: Alyx, one of the best VR games yet made and a good game, period, and you won’t even need a desktop PC — because Valve has ported the entire game to ARM64 so it can run natively on the Frame’s Qualcomm Snapdragon Gen 3 chip.
Read Article >Valve’s Steam Frame costs $1,059
Photo: Kelsey McClellan / The VergeValve is finally releasing its Steam Frame headset, which can run both flat and VR games locally and stream both kinds of games from your PC. The Steam Frame will start at $1,059. Valve will also offer a 1TB model that starts at $1,299.
Every Steam Frame will come with a copy of Half-Life: Alyx, Valve’s made-for-VR entry in the Half-Life franchise, and Valve has ported the game to run natively on the headset as well as via streaming.
Read Article >The Steam Frame is made for irresponsible hardware nerds like me
Photo: Kelsey McClellan / The VergeFor nearly three weeks, I’ve been testing the limits of Valve’s Steam Frame, the company’s new wearable PC. At first glance, it’s easy to write it off as a pricey headset that missed the VR craze. At $1,059 with 256GB of storage or $1,299 for 1TB, it costs two to three times as much as similar-looking headsets from Meta.
You should not write it off that way. The Steam Frame isn’t just a VR headset. It’s not even primarily a VR headset. And it’s the most comfortable headset I’ve ever worn. It weighs just over 1 pound (469g) with its optional top head strap attached, and doesn’t leave a mark on my face even after hours of use.
Read Article >- The Steam Frame will get color passthrough after all — with a snap-on aftermarket camera.
Leaked photos and demo videos claim the Arcturus Vision Camera works out of the box! Plug it into the Frame’s nosebridge port, and get 5K60 10-bit HDR color plus spatial video recording. Valve isn’t offering native color passthrough to keep costs down, but looks like its passthrough partner got the greenlight! No price yet.
The Arcturus Vision Camera, as leaked. Image: Komodo Station leak Watch Valve set up the Steam Frame in its own leaked videos
Image: ValveValve just leaked several new videos showing the Steam Frame’s unboxing, setup process, and various accessories. The videos apparently appeared on the ARM Steam client following an update, but they were “quickly pulled after that,” according to the Steam Hardware Updates account on X.
The Steam Frame is Valve’s virtual-reality headset that can stream games from a PC or play them locally. Valve first took the wraps off the headset last year, and it offers LCD screens with 2160 x 2160 resolution per eye, a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip, and an up to 110-degree field of view. But these leaked videos offer a closer look at what it might be like to unbox and set up the new device.
Read Article >- What if Steam Machine faceplate = Steam Controller Dock?
And it’s got its own little kickstand to prop it up separately?? WANT. Check out more photos of NefariousnessWhole25’s prototype (and a few other cool Steam Machine faceplates from Reddit) in our gallery below.
1/8Image: NefariousnessWhole25 (Reddit) - Valve released the CAD files for the Steam Machine.
Can’t wait to see what people make using them. Hopefully some cool front plates?
- How well does the Steam Machine work if it’s running Windows?
ETA PRIME tries to answer that question (while we’re revisiting our initial rating) with some benchmarking courtesy of the Windows drivers Valve released earlier this month. As Videocardz points out, on this unit with 64GB of RAM, the results were pretty close across the three games tested, with SteamOS winning in 1080p across Cyberpunk 2077, Shadow of the Tomb Raider, and Horizon Zero Dawn, but Windows moving a couple of frames per second ahead at 4K rendering.
- Today’s Vergecast: Were we too nice to the Steam Machine?
Valve’s Steam Machine might be exactly the living room console you’ve been waiting for. Or it might be too expensive, totally pointless, a waste of everyone’s money and shelf space. The Verge’s Sean Hollister joins the show to talk through all the feedback we’ve been getting about our coverage and our review. Is Valve’s history a pro or a con? Is the price reasonable or ridiculous? Who is this device actually for? We have much to discuss.
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- Jsaux confirms it’s still making front screen accessories for Valve’s Steam Machine.
After first teasing them last November, months before the Steam Machine was released, Jsaux has shared updated designs for its screen-equipped front plates for the console. Pricing and availability haven’t been announced, but the accessory will come in three versions with E Ink, color E Ink, or dot matrix displays.
Image: Jsaux The Steam Machine fits my TV, my desk, and my life
Photo: Kelsey McClellan / The VergeFor the last couple weeks, I’ve been in an extremely lucky position: I’ve been spending a lot of time playing games on Valve’s Steam Machine.
We gave the Steam Machine a 6, and I don’t disagree with my colleague Sean Hollister’s review. But even though I already own a PS5 and an Xbox Series X, and even though I’ve experienced the Steam Machine’s drawbacks for myself, I would spend the $1,049 to buy one right now.
Read Article >- You can turn the Steam Machine into a Windows PC.
As Windows Central reports, Valve has released Windows drivers for the Steam Machine, like it previously did for the Steam Deck, so you can replace its Linux-based SteamOS if you want. However, the Steam Machine still doesn’t support dual-booting, so you can only have one OS installed at a time.
- Valve just open-sourced its e-ink screen for the Steam Machine.
As spotted by Brad Lynch, you can now find the complete instructions, files, and BOM to make the screen we saw at Valve HQ, which it’s now calling the “Inkterface.” (It was previously the “Mango Frunk,” likely a reference to MangoHud.) It uses a battery for power. If you’re not feeling DIY, Jsaux is working on one.
The e-paper display that Valve internally built for the Steam Machine. Photo by Everything Time Studio / The Verge
