Valve opened reservations for Steam Frame on September 14, putting a price on the standalone headset it first teased ten months ago. The 256GB model costs $1,059, while a 1TB version runs $1,299. Both ship with tracked controllers, the Wi-Fi 6E dongle that streams games off a PC, and a microSD slot for expansion.

Valve is not selling first come, first served. Buyers have until September 17 at 10am PT to register for a randomized lottery, with purchase emails expected from September 18.

The surprise is software. A native ARM build of Half-Life: Alyx runs standalone on the headset, built around eye-tracked foveated rendering plus a year of Vulkan and SteamVR work. Valve says nothing in the game changed, so Workshop mods still work and Cloud saves move between standalone and PC streaming. Every buyer who does not already own Alyx gets it free, and about 70 other VR titles now carry the Steam Frame Verified tag for standalone play.

Steam Frame runs SteamOS, translates x86 code through FEX and handles Android builds through a compatibility layer called Lepton. It needs no base stations, tracking itself with four grayscale cameras and eye tracking for foveated streaming.

First-party extras include a $59 Ergonomic Accessories Kit with a top strap, Index-style controller grips and an extended light blocker.

Source: Road to VR

Source: UploadVR