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Valve's new virtual reality headset, the Steam Frame, has officially been released - but it comes at a high price.
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it → release → price
The hardware is excellent - a light device which feels comfortable to wear and is packed with clever technology - so long as you're willing to pay a whopping £1,089 for a headset with 1TB of storage.
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you → feel → storage
The variant with 256GB of storage, meanwhile, costs £889.
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variant → cost → 889
Both are capable of streaming from a PC as well as playing games on-device, with varying degrees of success.
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Both → stream → success
But it carries a price tag which will make a lot of people roll their eyes, and doesn't do much to dispel criticism that increasingly-costly VR headsets are pricing people out of the hobby.
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headsets → carry → hobby
Games run great
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Games → run → ?
But before we get into that hefty price tag, is the Steam Frame actually any good?
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Frame → get → tag
I've owned VR headsets for well over a decade, and Valve's latest effort makes a promising first impression.
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effort → own → impression
Games run well - really the bare minimum considering the price tag - and it's easy enough to use.
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it → run → tag
One of the nice things is, like Meta's Quest 3, it has flat "pancake" lenses allowing you to see clearly when you put the headset on.
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you → have → headset
It's light - weighing little more than a can of soup.
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It → weigh → soup
But what makes it comfortable is the decision to separate the internals up.
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it → make → internals
The battery pack rests on the back of your head while the screen is at the front - meaning you don't feel front-heavy, a common criticism of other headsets.
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you → rest → headsets
The PlayStation VR2 for example has incredible OLED displays, albeit without the pancake lenses.
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VR2 → have → lenses
Apple and Samsung both have excellent screens too in their own headsets.
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Apple → have → headsets
Yet these come at a serious premium, costing significantly more than the Steam Frame.
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these → come → Frame
When Meta launched the Quest 3 in June 2023, its 128GB model retailed for £480.
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model → launch → 480
Three years later, it's hard to believe VR just keeps getting more expensive when the Quest 3 felt like a turning point.
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Quest → believe → point
"VR today is ultimately a high-end niche," gaming writer Christopher Dring told me.
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Dring → tell → me
"Meta had been subsidising the Quest hardware, and it's difficult to imagine they will going forward as they pivot away from those experiences.
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they → subsidise → experiences
Of course, there are reasons for prices going up.
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prices → be → ?
AI developers are building giant data centres filled with racks of powerful servers, using many of the same components needed to make devices like the Steam Frame.
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developers → build → Frame
Ram prices alone more than doubled in price between October 2025 and the start of 2026.
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prices → double → 2026
Meanwhile, the graphics card I bought for £500 a few months ago now sits at closer to £650.
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I → buy → 650
As prices climb higher and higher, hardware developers don't have much of a choice but to put up their own.
"We set out to come out with a device that would have been much more affordable," Valve developer Jeremy Selan said.
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Selan → climb → device
"But the global Ram market has impacted us the same way it's impacted everybody."
The Steam Frame is certainly not a budget product.
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Frame → impact → everybody
But not everyone agrees with the suggestion that VR in general costs too much.
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VR → agree → much
"The idea that it's too expensive is one of the biggest misconceptions about VR," UploadVR website editor David Heaney told me.
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Heaney → tell → me
He pointed out while some headsets may be expensive, Meta's Quest 3S budget model costs £320 but has been on sale for £250 several times.
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model → point → 250
"In context, a Nintendo Switch 2 is £420, an Xbox Series S is £430, and a PS5 is £470 - Quest 3S, which is primarily used for gaming, is cheaper than other games consoles," he said.
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he → use → consoles
He said the big barrier to more people getting into VR was simply that "we're still in the early days".
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we → say → days
"You have to see VR in the same timeframe you'd see personal computers in the 1980s," he said.
"
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he → have → 1980s
"VR is only just getting started, a tech in its 1980s PC era, not something anywhere near maturity.
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VR → start → maturity
"
Clever streaming tech
What makes the Steam Frame really stand out is its new tech, including what developers call its "foveated streaming".
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developers → make → what
The tech displays only the exact thing you're looking at in the highest quality, while making things in your peripheral vision less clear.
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things → display → vision
You don't notice the low quality bits because you're not looking at them - saving a massive amount of bandwidth.
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you → notice → bandwidth
It means you can stream VR games wirelessly from your PC in high quality without being tethered by a cable, and it works well.
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it → mean → cable
And it does this while sending two signals at once - combining your household Wi-Fi with a dongle which plugs into your PC.
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which → do → PC
But then again, you need to spend even more money on a decent PC if you want to benefit from that - which doesn't help with concerns about price.
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which → need → price
Valve says despite it being a VR headset, the Steam Frame is not just for VR games.
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Frame → say → games
…and 3 more, not listed.
The Aporia
