this post was submitted on 14 Sep 2026
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171
Steam Frame pricing and release date revealed by Valve - it's a lottery again (www.gamingonlinux.com)
submitted 3 weeks ago by inclementimmigrant@lemmy.world to c/pcgaming@lemmy.ca
59 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 
  • Steam Frame 256GB: 1,059 USD / 1,529 CAD / 1,049 EUR / 889 GBP / 1,609 AUD / 4,539 PLN
  • Steam Frame 1TB: 1,299 USD / 1,859 CAD / 1,279 EUR / 1,089 GBP / 1,969 AUD / 5,549 PLN
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[–] iamthetot@piefed.ca 44 points 3 weeks ago (4 children)

Beginning of this year, I was stoked to get the controller, machine, and frame.

After the controller came out, decided it was a bit too pricey for the partner and me, not to mention how impossible it was to get your hands on one anyway, so we decided to skip.

Then the Machine comes along, and could not justify that cost either. Wanted a small living room box and it looks so sleek, but the price to power ratio just is not there for me, so decided to skip this too.

Well, all money saved for the Frame right? Sigh... Nah man, not at this price. Not to play Beatsaber and Pistolwhip every one in a while. Ah well.

Good luck to all on the lottery, hope you enjoy it.

[–] artyom@piefed.social 23 points 3 weeks ago

Thanks AI!

[–] dlsloop@lemmy.zip 12 points 3 weeks ago

I don't have any advice for the controller and frame, unfortunately. But check out mini PCs for a potentially cheaper Steam Machine replacement. You can easily put SteamOS on it and get a very similar experience.

[–] Thwompthwomp@lemmy.world 6 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

I was super pumped about these as well, and same experience. I have a steam deck and I really just leave docked to my TV for 99% of the time. The steam frame is somewhat surprising (I thought it might come in at a higher price point), but based on my experience just trying out a few other VR sets, it feels like a really expensive gimmick.

[–] Kyrias@lemmy.ca 6 points 3 weeks ago

I had to give up my index 3 years ago but thought I'd get back into VR with the frame.

Only to find there are only one or two new games/experiences even worth trying out. In 3 years...

[–] eurodyne@piefed.world 35 points 3 weeks ago (3 children)

and there it is. ouch.

[–] IrateAnteater@sh.itjust.works 66 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

It's higher than I'd like, but lower than I feared. All you had to do is look at flagship phone prices to get a feel for where the floor of the price could be.

[–] eurodyne@piefed.world 10 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (1 children)

oh, you're not going for the Steam Frame Duo? :P

[–] GreyEyedGhost@piefed.ca 4 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

The Steam Frame Mono lacks depth.

[–] Kyrias@lemmy.ca 2 points 2 weeks ago

I like the flexibility of buying only the eye you want though.

Pretty useless to get a full Frame if you've only got one eye!

[–] inclementimmigrant@lemmy.world 23 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

Yeah, fuck AI.

As much as I would like to upgrade to this, the price is just too steep at this point for me.

[–] steelplatedmech@piefed.ca 6 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (1 children)

Yeah price hurts but less than I thought.

I am glad they went with the lottery again, since I know trying to snipe it as it comes into stock would just leave me clicking refresh for hours and coming up empty handed like the first steam controller release day.

And I don't want to be having to use bots or discord channels to get alerts to try and get something that will go out of stock in seconds.

[–] EonNShadow@pawb.social 1 points 2 weeks ago

I mean I had an auto-refresher going anyway

[–] moonlight@fedia.io 23 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

I was looking forward to getting this, but not at that price. Guess I'll check back in with VR in another 5-10 years.

[–] artyom@piefed.social 23 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

Honestly I'm shocked at the price. In a good way. They originally said last year it would be less than the Index, which was about $1k, so I fully expected it to have the same 33% increase as the Steam Deck and Machine.

[–] Humanius@lemmy.world 24 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (2 children)

It is a high quality VR headset with an integrated computer inside of it. It was always going to be ~$1000. I'm impressed they actually managed to keep it at only $1050, given the current RAM shortage

[–] artyom@piefed.social 7 points 3 weeks ago

Exactly

[–] SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca 2 points 3 weeks ago

They are likely making no money on these.

[–] iamthetot@piefed.ca 7 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

For all we know, it did. They may have been hoping to release at US$750.

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[–] FauxLiving@lemmy.world 19 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

The integrated computer killed it.

If it were just a headset that depended on the Steam Machine/PC it could have been significantly cheaper. Adding enough RAM to make it a useful computer was probably most of the price.

[–] ExperiencedWinter@lemmy.world 7 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

How would you do wireless streaming without some kind of compute to handle the networking and video decoding? The frame is primarily a wireless streaming device

[–] Appoxo@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Thin client vs full computer.
Essentially it ahould have been an extreme edition chromecast that can decode the 6ghz datastream. Nothing more.
But it can boot and run cyberpunk (in shit quality but whatever). That was not neccessary.

[–] Natanael@infosec.pub 4 points 2 weeks ago

The capacity is like half the Steam Deck, which is years old. It's an older mobile chip. All the magic comes from foveated rendering.

They could've saved maybe a hundred dollars from a cheaper chip, a little more with less storage and RAM. Then it wouldn't be able to compete with the Meta Quest while being more expensive still. It would just have had slightly better tracking and controllers.

[–] FauxLiving@lemmy.world 3 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

There are third party wireless streaming devices that function with the Index. It doesn't take much compute to operate wifi and process minimally compressed video.

A headset with Chromebook equivalent hardware would be significantly cheaper than a headset with Steam Deck equivalent hardware.

They wanted a device like the Quest that would let people play decent VR without needing a strong PC. I think that was the right decision when it was being planned. But now that we're mid-RAM apocalypse, the better move may have been to iterate on the Index and not try to make a new platform.

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[–] tiramichu@sh.itjust.works 4 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (2 children)

Let's say they removed the onboard capability, and doing so halved the price.

You're then left with a device which costs basically the same as a Quest 3 but also requires a PC to do anything. I'm pretty sure that would be reviewed a heck of a lot worse than even the current situation is.

A self-contained unit that matched the Quest and wins on not price but privacy was the only reasonable direction for Valve here.

[–] BradleyUffner@lemmy.world 3 points 2 weeks ago

You're then left with a device which costs basically the same as a Quest 3 but also requires a PC to do anything.

That's basically a wireless Index without the lighthouse, which is all a LOT of us were asking for. I don't see the problem and would love that.

[–] FauxLiving@lemmy.world 2 points 2 weeks ago

A self-contained unit that matched the Quest and wins on not price but privacy was the only reasonable direction for Valve here.

I do agree that the niche they've chosen to fill is valuable, having a good self-contained unit free of Meta's spyware was the entire selling point for me.

I know a lot of people who were looking into PCVR but didn't buy an Index because they didn't want to spend $1000 on a VR headset. PCVR is a niche of a niche audience, so I'm not surprised that they didn't release a product that was just Index v2.

Maybe, in the future they could offer a low-end SKU that was PC-only, without onboard gaming hardware.

[–] Rentlar@lemmy.ca 16 points 3 weeks ago

100% buy for me at HALF this price, which sounds closer to what they wanted to release at if not for the PC components price spikes.

[–] panda_abyss@lemmy.ca 13 points 3 weeks ago (3 children)

$1500 CAD, plus another like $130 for straps and a charger that should be included. Then I have to order prescription lenses.

I don't think this one is for me.

I hope Sam Altman rolls over in his grave over what he's done to prices.

[–] ExperiencedWinter@lemmy.world 6 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

You don't have a USB c charger already? Please don't mix valid criticism (the ergonomics kit pricing is ridiculous) with a positive move to reduce e-waste. I have multiple USB c chargers that will work for the frame, I'm glad they won't be manufacturing and shipping me a new one.

[–] Appoxo@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 2 weeks ago

I don't have many >50W chargers handy.
One is for my steamdeck
One is deployed at my desk for charging my phone (which is very tucked away and annoying to get to)

New high wattage (which can be trusted to not combust spontaneously) chargers cost >40-50€.

[–] Smaile@lemmy.ca 5 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (1 children)

Wait for him to blow up and the bankruptcy tide to wash the price down, Chinese chips will push that further.

[–] panda_abyss@lemmy.ca 2 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

There’s too much money involved.

They’ll cry “national security” and too big to fail, then force the bailouts on US citizens.

[–] Smaile@lemmy.ca 2 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

Then the USA bond market will crash, and them along with it. No shot it'll happen and if it does, the dollar has a good chance of lossing national reserve status.

[–] SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca 3 points 3 weeks ago

Consumable light gaskets are US$50. For a piece of injection molded plastic.

[–] WolfLink@sh.itjust.works 11 points 3 weeks ago

That’s not at all a bad price for the product. Honestly I’m surprised it’s not more.

[–] Smaile@lemmy.ca 8 points 3 weeks ago

1500 can? Hell naw, I'll wait for Sam altmen to get fucking merked by the repo men before I shell out for any electronics at this point.

[–] PlzGibHugs@piefed.ca 6 points 3 weeks ago

It sucks that this is the current market, but for what it is, this is unfortunately pretty much what I expected. Its similar hardware to a flagship phone, but with custom VR hardware and software, so flagship phone, plus about 25%

[–] jlow@slrpnk.net 6 points 3 weeks ago (9 children)

A foldable Iphones or two of these? I'm taking neither but if I had to choose I'd never take the first option.

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[–] DarkFuture@lemmy.world 2 points 3 weeks ago

I don't play lotteries and I only have one kidney left.

I'm out.

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