🥰 Reviewers praise the Steam Frame for its comfortable design and responsive wireless PC-to-VR streaming performance
🆚 Starting at $1,059 for 256GB and $1,299 for 1TB, its high price makes it difficult to recommend over cheaper alternatives like Meta Quest 3
😔 The headset is held back by LCD lenses, monochrome passthrough, short battery life, and immature standalone software
🤔 Outlets feel the headset arrives a few years too late to meaningfully alter or revive the current VR landscape
VR enthusiasts have been counting down the days ever since Valve revealed its successor to the Index late last year, but now we finally have all the details about the Steam Frame we’ve been waiting for – including hands-on reviews.
A few outlets got early access to Valve’s new VR headset, and the consensus seems to be fairly positive. As a PC/VR headset, the streaming tech it’s built around delivers a smooth, responsive, and excellent gaming experience.
However, at a price of $1,059 for the 256GB model and some questionable design decisions such as using LCD lenses, a monochrome passthrough, and subpar battery life, the Steam Frame isn’t the smash-hit some were expecting.
Here’s what reviewers made of the Steam Frame ahead of its release.
Ars Technica had mixed feelings about the Steam Frame. The reviewer was impressed by the comfort, design, and streaming performance, but ultimately feels the Steam Frame is too expensive, too unstable, and too late to meaningfully compete in today’s VR landscape.
“For most VR-curious gamers, though, avoiding Meta’s platform lock-in isn’t worth the hundreds of extra dollars Valve is seeking for its unsubsidized VR hardware. If you already have a lot invested in Steam VR titles or want to finally see what Half-Life: Alyx is all about, the Steam Frame might be worth some consideration. Otherwise, it feels like Valve is a few years late and a few hundred dollars short here.”
Eurogamer was more positive about the Steam Frame, though conscious of its shortcomings. The reviewer praised its comfort, PC‑to‑VR streaming, and thoughtful hardware design – but repeatedly stressed that the standalone experience is inconsistent, immature, and too expensive to recommend the Steam Frame without caveats.
“As a standalone machine, I have some reservations: it can be fiddly and unpredictable, far from the plug-and-play ease of Meta Quest, but that’s an issue Valve’s expanding verification programme will hopefully address over time. But as a PC-to-VR device, it’s a delight; liberating in its stress-free, wire-free functionality, if you can deal with the fleeting battery life. And that - alongside the feature bump and wonderfully comfortable headset - has already made Frame my go-to headset, Quest exclusives aside. Frame isn’t a machine for high-end enthusiasts though, I don’t think, and despite its many nice-to-haves, it perhaps doesn’t offer a dramatically different in-headset experience to the far cheaper, more intuitive Quest 3, meaning Meta’s machine is still in the conversation. And so, honestly, I’m not sure if the Frame is for you. But as unhelpful as this might be, if you think it is, you’re probably right.”
Engadget was less impressed with the Steam Frame, and believes that while it may be comfortable and technically capable, it’s wildly overpriced, late to the party, and launching into a VR ecosystem that is already struggling to take off.
“While the Steam Frame is ultimately a solid standalone VR experience, it’s hard to stomach its exorbitant price, as well as the fact that it’s arriving far too late to inject much life into the declining state of VR. At the very least, Valve can blame the Frame’s high cost on the AI RAM crisis, which is something Sony couldn’t really do with the PS VR 2. If it somehow gets cheaper, or if developers start to produce a ton of must-play VR content, I might reassess the Steam Frame. For now, though, it just feels like a wasted opportunity.”
YouTuber Dave2D’s overall feeling towards the Steam Frame was positive in his review, though he was critical about the software and realistic about the value. While he believes it’s beautifully engineered and excellent for wireless PC VR, it’s ultimately held back by limited standalone game support and early-stage software frameworks.
Linus Tech Tips went as far as to say the Steam Frame makes every other VR headset feel obsolete, thanks to its wireless performance, comfort, and tracking precision. However, the software stack (Proton FEX and ARM architecture) still needs work before the Steam Frame can fully replace Windows-based VR setups.
If you’re interested in the Steam Frame, you can enter the reservation queue for the 256GB model or 1TB model, which costs $1,299. Signs up close on September 17, 2026, where any reservations after that date will enter a randomized queue.
Up next: Steam Machine and Nvidia GeForce Now are a match made in cloud gaming heaven
Adam Vjestica is The Shortcut’s Senior Editor. Formerly TechRadar’s Gaming Hardware Editor, Adam has also worked at Nintendo of Europe as a Content Marketing Editor, where he helped launch the Nintendo Switch. He also runs a retro gaming YouTube channel called Game on, boy! Follow him on X @ItsMrProducts.