Valve opens Steam Frame VR headset pre-orders - and it's expensive

Valve has opened pre-orders for its virtual reality headset Steam Frame, revealing the price in the process - and it's as expensive as you'd expect.

The Steam Frame is available to pre-order from $1,049 / £889 for the 256GB version. The 1TB edition costs $1,299 / £1,089. Half-Life Alyx is included with both.

The headset comes with Steam Frame controllers, Steam OS 3 and 2160x2160 LCD screens for each eye.

In terms of the tech specs, it has a 4 nm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 - ARM64, a 72-144Hz refresh rate and inside-out camera based tracking. The Steam Frame also has a wireless adapter included, dual speaker drivers per ear, dual microphone array and bluetooth capabilities.

But it's the price that's got fans talking on social media.

On a post about the Steam Frame's price in the Games Subreddit, one said: "I'd like to call this ridiculous but I also paid like 800 dollars for a HTC Vive ten years ago so who am I to judge."

A second spotted: "The best part of this entire announcement is SteamOS running on a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, ARM64. One step closer to getting native SteamOS on Android."

"With a price tag that high, this becomes yet another enthusiast-only VR device," a third countered. "Perhaps that was always their intent. Offering a standalone device akin to the Quest series from Meta but charging twice as much positions this in the same product category as the Index."

A fourth commented: "Still expensive but better than I was expecting. For comparison, the full Index (headset + lighthouses + controllers) was $999 and didn't have an onboard computer like Frame does. With memory pricing being what it is now (and other components rising in cost), I was expecting it to start at $1,300."

And a fifth added: "I think I am just going to have to be content with my 10-year-old PC with no VR. Everything is too goddamn expensive."

Steam Frame is available to pre-order now.

Elsewhere from Indy100:

• Steam Machine developers reveal bleak outlook on rising hardware costs
• Valve raises Steam Deck price by eye-watering amount: 'Gaming hardware is beyond cooked'

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