Valve's new virtual reality headset, the Steam Frame, has officially been released - but it comes at a high price. The hardware is excellent - a light device which feels comfortable to wear and is packed with clever technology - so long as you're willing to pay a whopping £1,089 for a headset with 1TB of storage. The variant with 256GB of storage, meanwhile, costs £889.
Both are capable of streaming from a PC as well as playing games on-device, with varying degrees of success. But it carries a price tag which will make a lot of people roll their eyes, and doesn't do much to dispel criticism that increasingly-costly VR headsets are pricing people out of the hobby. But before we get into that hefty price tag, is the Steam Frame actually any good?
I've owned VR headsets for well over a decade, and Valve's latest effort makes a promising first impression. Games run well - really the bare minimum considering the price tag - and it's easy enough to use. One of the nice things is, like Meta's Quest 3, it has flat "pancake" lenses allowing you to see clearly when you put the headset on.
It's light - weighing little more than a can of soup. But what makes it comfortable is the decision to separate the internals up. The battery pack rests on the back of your head while the screen is at the front - meaning you don't feel front-heavy, a common criticism of other headsets.
But there are better screens out there. The PlayStation VR2 for example has incredible OLED displays, albeit without the pancake lenses. Apple and Samsung both have excellent screens too in their own headsets.
Yet these come at a serious premium, costing significantly more than the Steam Frame. When Meta launched the Quest 3 in June 2023, its 128GB model retailed for £480. Less storage, but a much lower price.
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