Steam Machines have returned: all the news about Valve’s new hardware universe – The Verge

Valve’s virtual reality plans hit actual reality

2026-09-14T15:52:18-04:00

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' …

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The Steam Frame is made for irresponsible hardware nerds like me

2026-09-14T23:11:41-04:00

For nearly three weeks, I've been testing the limits of Valve's Steam Frame, the company's new wearable PC. At first glance, it's easy to write it off as a pricey headset that missed the VR craze. At $1,059 with 256GB of storage or $1,299 for 1TB, it costs two to three times as much as similar-looking headsets from Meta.

You should not write it off that way. The Steam Frame isn't just a VR headset. It's not even primarily a VR headset. And it's the most comfortable headset I've ever worn. It weighs just over 1 pound (469g) with its optional top head strap attached, and doesn't leave a mark on my face even after hours of use.

The Steam Fram …

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Valve’s Steam Frame costs $1,059

2026-09-14T13:02:46-04:00

Valve is finally releasing its Steam Frame headset, which can run both flat and VR games locally and stream both kinds of games from your PC. The Steam Frame will start at $1,059. Valve will also offer a 1TB model that starts at $1,299.

Every Steam Frame will come with a copy of Half-Life: Alyx, Valve's made-for-VR entry in the Half-Life franchise, and Valve has ported the game to run natively on the headset as well as via streaming.

Here are the prices for the Frame across several different currencies for the two configurations:

Steam Frame 256GB: $1,059 / $1,529 CAD / €1,049 / £889 / $1,609 AUD / 4,539 zlotys
Steam Frame 1TB: $1,29 …

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Valve has ported Half-Life: Alyx to ARM, and it’s free with Steam Frame

2026-09-14T13:47:11-04:00

Today, Valve is launching its first headset since 2019 - the new Steam Frame - while dodging our questions about whether it'll ever make another VR game to go with it. But buyers of the $1,059 gadget will get one flagship VR game anyhow, and it's great.

Every Steam Frame comes with a copy of 2020's Half-Life: Alyx, one of the best VR games yet made and a good game, period, and you won't even need a desktop PC - because Valve has ported the entire game to ARM64 so it can run natively on the Frame's Qualcomm Snapdragon Gen 3 chip.

That's no mean feat: This was a game that required a VR-ready Windows desktop or laptop with a midrange graphic …

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I reviewed Valve’s Steam Frame, ask me anything

2026-09-14T17:28:15-04:00

Hey! I'm Sean Hollister, you might have seen me around this place a few times, and I just spent three weeks beta-testing the Steam Frame, Valve's hotly anticipated new don't-call-it-a-VR-headset that might also be an early glimpse at the future of games that run everywhere.

At 4PM ET today (that's 1PM PT for West Coasters like me!), I will answer as many of your questions as humanly possible about this headset, its controllers, its ergonomic accessories kit, and the Arcturus Vision Camera in a subscriber-only AMA. If you want me to test something special for you, get your question in ASAP - I'll see if I can try it between now and then!

W …

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Watch Valve set up the Steam Frame in its own leaked videos

2026-09-02T12:33:10-04:00

Valve just leaked several new videos showing the Steam Frame's unboxing, setup process, and various accessories. The videos apparently appeared on the ARM Steam client following an update, but they were "quickly pulled after that," according to the Steam Hardware Updates account on X.

The Steam Frame is Valve's virtual-reality headset that can stream games from a PC or play them locally. Valve first took the wraps off the headset last year, and it offers LCD screens with 2160 x 2160 resolution per eye, a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip, and an up to 110-degree field of view. But these leaked videos offer a closer look at what it might be like to un …

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The Steam Machine fits my TV, my desk, and my life

2026-07-07T20:09:57-04:00

For the last couple weeks, I've been in an extremely lucky position: I've been spending a lot of time playing games on Valve's Steam Machine.

We gave the Steam Machine a 6, and I don't disagree with my colleague Sean Hollister's review. But even though I already own a PS5 and an Xbox Series X, and even though I've experienced the Steam Machine's drawbacks for myself, I would spend the $1,049 to buy one right now.

My PS5 and Xbox Series X can't play the hundreds of games in my growing Steam library, don't support Steam's cloud saves that let me seamlessly carry progress between my Steam Deck and Steam Machine, don't support my beloved Ste …

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The cube was a lie: up close with our Dbrand Companion Cube before it gets destroyed

2026-07-01T03:39:32-04:00

Dbrand is the company that shipped a product that told Nintendo's legal team to "go fuck yourself," and the company that had a second set of lawyer-dodging PS5 plates ready when Sony threatened to sue over the originals. But on June 29th, the company finally ate some serious humble pie, canceling its Portal-themed Companion Cube external shell for the Steam Machine after Valve lawyered up.

I couldn't believe it. Surely Dbrand had to have seen this coming. There must be a plan B, right?

"There is no further plan. We fucked this one up," Dbrand CEO Adam Ijaz now tells me.

He says Dbrand will now have to destroy every single cube it manufact …

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Dbrand cancels Companion Cube because it didn’t actually ask Valve for permission

2026-06-29T13:02:25-04:00

Dbrand announced Monday that it's refunding everyone who bought its Steam Machine Companion Cube, which it said it made "without a license from Valve." Dbrand announced the Portal-themed Steam Machine accessory in November and took preorders for it last Monday. But a few days later, the product had disappeared from the company's website and the teaser video promoting it had been made private after Valve contacted the company.

Dbrand says that the Companion Cube became "the second-fastest selling product in our 15-year history, behind only the Switch 2 Killswitch" after it opened preorders on June 22nd. However, Valve's legal team reached ou …

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How much would the Steam Machine cost to build?

2026-06-23T11:30:14-04:00

The Steam Machine is here, with a base price of $1,049. Yes, that's nearly twice the price of a PS5, but what you're buying here isn't a console but a full-on PC - and a tiny one at that. Valve says it's selling the Steam Machine basically at cost. So we asked ourselves: What would it cost to build something like the Steam Machine yourself?

You can't literally build the same thing. The quiet 6-inch cube Valve has created isn't reproducible off the shelf. The base model Steam Machine includes 512GB of storage and goes up to $1,349 for 2TB of storage and two additional faceplates. Across both models, the Steam Machine sports 16GB of DDR5 RAM, …

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