Valve has a confession to make: the company had its next-gen VR headset ready years ago, then scrapped it because the prototypes were too big and awkward. Jeremy Selan, one of the engineers behind the Steam Frame, told PC Gamer that Valve had “big, bulky devices” ready three or four years ago. But when the team tried them on, they decided the designs didn’t measure up.
“They were more in the style of the Valve Index, and we put them on, and we’re just like, this doesn’t feel like what we would want the next round of our product to be,” Selan explained.
Why Valve Pulled the Plug
The Steam Frame is finally here, and it’s one of the best VR headsets PC Gamer has ever tested. But the road to release was long and winding. Valve’s hardware engineers went back to the drawing board “many, many times” to hit a smaller, lighter form factor. The challenge was balancing power, battery weight, cooling, and thermals.
Selan framed the delay as a matter of readiness. “This was absolutely the fastest we were capable of shipping the device that we were proud of,” he said. The team originally expected an early 2026 launch. Supply chain issues pushed the release further.
The timing isn’t ideal. PCVR sales are dropping year over year, and 2026 may be the worst year for PCVR releases since records began. On top of that, there’s a memory and hardware pricing crisis. Valve is betting that the Steam Frame can buck the trend.
Software Work Made the Headset Possible
Joy Lyons, another Valve engineer, pointed to the software groundwork that made the Steam Frame viable. The portable systems Valve has worked on, including the Steam Deck, taught the team lessons about running Windows-based games on Linux and ARM hardware.
Proton, Valve’s compatibility layer, can run x86 games on Linux. FEX extends that to ARM hardware. Lepton handles Android-based games, bringing Meta Quest and Horizon OS content to the Steam Frame’s SteamOS platform.
“It’s a great time to take advantage of Proton, being able to do FEX, which allows us to run x86 games on a piece of ARM hardware, and Lepton, which is the new work to do Android-based games, and have that work also on our SteamOS platform,” Lyons said.
Testing the Games
Lyons described a moment of pure delight when she tried Android games on the headset. “I’m like, ‘I wonder if this one will run,'” she recalled. “And you download it, and you open it, and it runs, and you put it on the huge screen.”
“That was the moment where it’s just like, ‘this is fun. I’m gonna take off my engineer hat. I’m gonna stop nitpicking every little thing that I know about the device, and I’ll definitely address that tomorrow. But right now, I’m actually having fun.'”
She estimated she went through 89 games in a two-week period.
Selan echoed the sentiment. “We’re our own best testers,” he said. “So I do remember in those days I would have access to this secret prototype VR hardware, and I would take it home… and I’d still use my Steam Deck.”
He said there was a transition point where the Steam Frame became his favorite device. “That’s when sort of a switch flipped in my head, and I was like, ‘This is going to be a real thing’,” he added.
What Valve Got Right
Valve’s approach is straightforward. The company didn’t rush a flawed product to market. Instead, it sat on designs that didn’t feel right, then kept refining until the engineers themselves wanted to keep the gear at home.
The result is a headset that streams games wirelessly from a PC and also runs standalone content. It’s a PC VR device that also works as a portable box for Android games.
Whether the Steam Frame succeeds depends on the market. PCVR sales are down, and the reviewer noted that the price remains a concern.
Key Facts Box
– Steam Frame release: now
– Original target: early 2026
– Prototype timeline: three to four years ago
– Tested games: 89 in two weeks, per Lyons
– Delay causes: supply chain shortages, component economics
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