The Apple Vision Pro is an expensive flop. I haven’t heard anyone mention the Meta Quest in months, despite it getting a new model just last year. I can’t even remember the name of Samsung’s incoming Android-based headset. While virtual reality gamers remain passionate, the excitement around the format seems to be slowly dying… again.
And then along came Zeus Valve. Easily the least mainstream of its three — THREE! — hardware announcements yesterday, the Steam Frame is everything I was hoping for. It’s a standalone, self-powered headset with its own software and apps, a la the Quest. With an internal battery, it’s ready to go on the road or just roam around your home without being tethered.
But it can also connect to a gaming PC or a Steam Deck or a Steam Machine (what’s the difference?) to access more powerful virtual reality games and non-VR media. And Valve is setting this up as a central feature, with a low-latency wireless dongle included in the box.
It’s packing the latest VR tech such as eye tracking, pancake lenses, and expansion options for MicroSD and USB-C. It’ll be running on a powerful Snapdragon ARM64 processor, and the software is at least some flavor of SteamOS, giving it immediate access to a huge amount of both VR and standard games.
The VR market is splintered into several smaller ones with each maker offering exclusives. So there probably is ten truly great games but they are split across each store.
I feel like if these companies really wanted VR to take off they should work to be sure any game is available on any headset to start building the critical mass they need to actually have a functional player base. Only the enthusiasts are going to spend time researching what set offers what.
There are so many fewer great experiences with VR than with flat gaming so it’s much, much more important. I am pretty sure Valve understands this but you still have Meta and Sony hoarding exclusives and limiting the overall experience.