Valve Steam Frame interview — why it costs up to $1,300, Snapdragon power, and 10x foveated streaming
We chatted with Valve engineers Pierre-Loup Griffais and Jeff Leinbaugh about launching the Steam Frame amid a global memory/storage supply crunch
Valve engineer Jeff Leinbaugh and Pierre-Loup Griffais discussed the development of the Steam Frame headset. They aimed to create a more comfortable, accessible VR experience compared to the Index, with lightweight, easy-to-use design. Streaming technology was crucial in achieving this goal, allowing the headset to be wireless and interact with Steam as easily as a Steam Deck.
The engineers tackled engineering challenges such as thermal management and power delivery to ensure the device could support both standalone and streamed gameplay using the Qualcomm 8650 chip. While AAA games may struggle on the headset due to its limited compute power, a wide range of games, including indie titles and older AAA games, perform well.
The Steam Frame Verify program has received positive feedback from developers, who have made tweaks to their games to improve the user experience on the device.
Written by urgent.news from Tom's Hardware's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
