Steam Frame release is being held up by Valve as it's still finishing ‘Gamepad Mode’
The backend updates don’t stop
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🎮 Valve has been putting the finishing touches to Steam Frame’s “Gamepad Mode”
👍 This comes with a new SteamVR beta that allows normal gamepads with the Steam Frame’s window manager and playing non-VR games on the headset
🤲 We know this is possible as the headset’s first certified game was Portal 2, a standard 2D game
🔜 All of this points to an imminent release of the headset, especially with the amount of shipments Valve has been getting for headsets and controllers
While all of the recent news we’ve heard points to a seemingly imminent launch for the Steam Frame, a new update may explain why we’ve been waiting so long.
As per insider Bradley Lynch AKA @SadlyItsBradley on X, data mining the new SteamVR Beta update shows that Valve is finishing up the headset’s “Gamepad Mode”, presumably in prep for the headset’s full release.
This is designed primarily for using standard gamepads with the Steam Frame’s window manager and for playing non-VR games with the headset. The data mining also concludes that “Gamepad Mode” has its own UX.
Reportedly, the new Steam Controller can also be fully tracked, and it works optionally for the Steam Frame’s own motion controllers.
Valve has been busy in the backend certifying a wide range of games for use with the Steam Frame, as demonstrated by the recently launched new category for ‘Great on Frame’ games that includes titles such as Ancient Dungeons and Titan Isles.
Likewise, with Portal 2, the headset’s first certified game, it isn’t designed as a proper VR title, and instead is meant to work with the headset’s “Gamepad Mode” as a 2D game.
Valve also certified its own VR showcase games for the headset with Aperture Hand Labs and The Lab, and certified three other titles last week to keep adding to a growing total of games optimised for the system.
The headset’s launch seems to be imminent, based on the scale of work Valve is putting into the backend to get it ready, plus the growing number of shipments that have been delivered to its US warehouse.
Valve recently got one of its biggest Steam Frame shipments yet, with nearly two tonnes of headsets and controllers coming into the company’s US warehouse.
Valve has received a steady stream of shipments of the device in recent weeks, similar to the lead-up to both the Steam Controller and the Steam Machine launching. Clearly, Valve wants to ensure it has stock to hand ahead of the hotly anticipated Steam Frame pre-order reveal.
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Reece Bithrey is a journalist with bylines for Trusted Reviews, Digital Foundry, PC Gamer, TechRadar and more. He also has his own blog, UNTITLED, and graduated from the University of Leeds with a degree in International History and Politics in 2023.