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Valve Launches Steam Frame VR Headset Starting at $1,059

Limited supply driven by global memory shortages has prompted Valve to sell the headset through a randomized reservation system for initial orders.

Overview

  • Valve officially revealed Steam Frame pricing and availability on September 14, with a 256GB model at $1,059 and a 1TB model at $1,299 and purchase sign-ups open through September 17.
  • The Arm‑based headset runs a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 with 16GB of LPDDR5X unified RAM and 2160×2160 LCD panels per eye while supporting refresh rates up to 120Hz and an experimental 144Hz mode.
  • Every Steam Frame ships with Half‑Life: Alyx and Valve has delivered a native Arm64 build so the game can run on the headset without a PC, while the device also supports low‑latency wireless PC streaming using an included 6GHz adapter and eye‑tracked foveated streaming.
  • Valve is selling several accessories separately, including a $59 Ergonomic Accessories Kit, a $49 Accessory Replacement Kit, a $29 45W power supply, and a $149 Arcturus color camera, and the company says higher component and memory costs forced the higher launch price.
  • Valve used the same randomized reservation model it deployed for the Steam Machine to limit resellers and manage scarce inventory, a move that could slow mainstream adoption compared with cheaper rivals like Meta’s Quest line while preserving Valve’s open SteamOS and PC‑streaming approach.