Valve’s virtual reality plans hit actual reality
Valve's new Steam Frame VR headset is launching at a higher-than-expected price point due to rising global costs for RAM and storage components. Despite the cost, Valve maintains that the device is competitively priced relative to current PC hardware trends.
Why it matters
This reflects the ongoing impact of global supply chain and component cost volatility on the consumer electronics and virtual reality markets.
The Steam Frame headset is here, and it may not surprise you: it was supposed to cost less than $1,059. “We set out to come out with a device that would have been far more affordable, but the global RAM market, the global storage market have impacted us the same way they’ve impacted everybody,” Valve developer Jeremy Selan told the BBC. “We fought hard to get it even to this price.”
I haven’t yet seen Valve say whether it’s selling the Steam Frame at cost, like the company confirmed it was doing with the $1,049 Steam Machine living room PC. But Valve developer Pierre-Loup Griffais hinted maybe so in an interview with Tom’s Hardware: “there’s not really any sort of the kind of distortion compared to just the price of the parts in there.”
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