The Steam Frame launches during one of the slowest periods for VR on Steam, but Valve hopes to 'rekindle the excitement' for PCVR
The Steam Frame launched during one of the slowest periods for VR on Steam, but Valve hopes it will reinvigorate interest in PCVR. Once dominated by tethered headsets like the HTC Vive and Oculus Rift, VR has shifted towards mobile devices like the Oculus Go and Quest. In 2026, three standalone VR headsets accounted for over 60% of headsets plugged into PCs, with the Bigscreen Beyond barely registering at 1.25%.
While there are still many unique VR experiences to be had on PC, the number of new VR games released on Steam has been declining since 2017, reaching a decade-low in 2025. Valve's new hardware, the Steam Frame, aims to address this trend by offering both standalone functionality and wireless streaming of PCVR games from a local gaming PC to its Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip.
This dual functionality is aimed at attracting a broader range of customers and encouraging developers to create more content for PCVR.
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- Valve Steam Frame 3 Review: Competent as a standalone VR, but wireless streaming remains the focus tomshardware.com
- The Steam Frame is made for irresponsible hardware nerds like me theverge.com
- The Steam Frame is ready for pre-order, and it costs a pretty penny xda-developers.com
- Steam Frame starts at $1059 store.steampowered.com
