Valve opens Steam Frame preorders — VR headset starts at $1,059

By: Anton Kratiuk | today, 20:16

Valve has opened preorder registration for its Steam Frame VR headset, nearly a year after the device was first announced. The 256GB model starts at $1,059 in the US and £889 in the UK; the 1TB version runs $1,299 / £1,089. Every unit ships with a free copy of Half-Life: Alyx — the same game that launched alongside the Valve Index back in 2019 — though no charger is included in the box (any USB-C adapter works).

The lottery, again

You can't just click "buy." Valve is using the same randomized preorder system it ran for the Steam Machine. Sign-ups close September 17 at 19:00 CEST, after which slots are allocated at random — Valve says this is designed to block scalpers. Winners hear back the same day; purchase emails go out from September 18. Direct sales are open in the US, Canada, UK, EU, and Australia via Steam. In Japan, Taiwan, and Hong Kong, the distributor KOMODO handles sales, with South Korea listed as coming soon.

The hardware

Steam Frame runs on a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip and can operate as a standalone headset with over 100 natively compatible titles — and it can sideload Android APKs. For PC gaming, Valve includes a Wi-Fi 6E dongle that streams over the 6GHz band, cutting cable dependency without the latency hit that plagued earlier wireless VR solutions.

The headline technical feature is eye-tracked foveated streaming: two internal cameras track where you're looking, then render full-resolution detail only in that spot. The result, Valve claims, is high visual fidelity at lower bandwidth. Displays are LCD panels running 2160×2160 per eye, with custom pancake lenses (up to 110° field of view) and a 144Hz refresh rate. The headset is built from lightweight materials and supports accessories including a glasses spacer, extra head straps, a nose guard, and controller clips.

Worth the price?

At $1,059, Steam Frame sits well above the Meta Quest 3 ($600) — and that gap matters in a market where VR enthusiasm has cooled. As Engadget review noted, the broader VR segment saw shipments fall 18% year-over-year in Q2 2026. Steam Frame's bet is that PC-quality streaming and foveated tech justify the premium over a standalone headset. But that argument gets harder if you also need a high-end gaming PC — or a Steam Machine ($1,049) — to take full advantage of it. Video Games Chronicle confirmed the full UK pricing and purchase flow details.