On Monday Sept 14th 2026, Valve officially confirmed Steam Frame pricing and opened a randomized reservation lottery system for pre-purchase. The 256GB model is $1,059, the 1TB is $1,299, both including the headset, controllers, wireless adapter, and Half-Life: Alyx. The lottery is randomized, not first-come first-served, and it gets you a guaranteed chance to buy when your turn comes up, but not an immediate shipment.

What Is Steam Frame?

Steam Frame is Valve's wireless VR headset for accessing your entire Steam library. You stream games from your PC via the included wireless adapter, or run supported titles locally on the built-in Snapdragon 8 Gen 3. Eye-tracking enables foveated rendering and streaming optimization. Full tracked controllers come standard, along with a face gasket and optional light blocker.

The Pricing

Steam Frame 256GB Kit: $1,059 USD

Steam Frame 1TB Kit: $1,299 USD

Both kits include the headset, Steam Frame controllers, the dedicated wireless PC adapter, and a copy of Half-Life: Alyx. The USB-C power adapter is sold separately for $29. That's higher than the $899-$1,199 range that was speculated. 

Technical Specs

The headset has a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor with 16GB unified RAM, either 256GB or 1TB of storage, and microSD expansion. The display is 2160x2160 LCD per eye with custom pancake lenses, hitting up to 110 degrees field of view. Refresh rates go from 72Hz up to 144Hz experimental.

At 440 grams, the headset is slightly lighter than Quest 3. The real difference is balance, weight distributes more evenly than front heavy standalone headsets. The headstrap has integrated dual audio drivers and a rear battery pack, with an adjustable strap for fit.

Four outward-facing monochrome cameras handle controller and headset tracking. Two interior cameras do eye-tracking specifically for foveated rendering, they monitor where you're looking so the headset can prioritize image quality in your direct line of sight and save bandwidth everywhere else. At launch, there's no hand tracking and no gaze-controlled navigation input.

Connectivity is Wi-Fi 7 with dual radios so you can have a regular internet connection while the 6GHz link handles VR streaming. The included wireless adapter provides a low-latency connection to your PC. Bluetooth 5.3 connects the controllers.

The controllers use full 6-DOF tracking with magnetic thumbsticks, face buttons, D-pad, triggers, bumpers, and dual-stage grip buttons. Each runs on a AA batteries and gets about 40 hours life.

Audio comes from dual speaker drivers per ear and a dual microphone array. Valve lists support for eyewear up to 140mm wide; comfort depends on frame thickness, lens shape, and face fit.

Battery Life

Battery life has been a controversial topic amongst many enthusiasts and early reviewers. The 21.6 Wh battery runtime depends entirely on what you're doing. Demanding standalone VR like Half-Life: Alyx running locally gets about an hour before you need to recharge. Intensive PC-streamed VR gets around 1.5 hours. Lighter streaming, media, or flatscreen games push it over 2 hours. In the absolute best case with low demand usage, Valve quotes up to 4 hours, but that's not what you should plan for.

Most early reviews mention streaming from your PC lasts may longer than rendering the same game locally on the headset. That's because the processor and GPU work way harder for native rendering. If you're primarily using Steam Frame for PC VR streaming, plan on 90 minutes to 2 hours per session, not the "4 hours".

Refresh rate factors into this as well. 72Hz is the baseline, 90Hz or 120Hz will cut into that runtime, and 144Hz is experimental and will definitely drain the battery much faster.

The headset can run while plugged in via USB-C, which is useful for long sessions or if you're recording content. It supports up to 45W charging. Since no wall adapter is included, make sure to get your own 45W USB-C charger if you plan on longer play sessions.

Streaming and Standalone

Steam Frame prioritizes high quality streaming for PC games. 

Eye tracked foveated streaming prioritizes detail where you are looking and reduces quality in peripheral vision. Valve says this approach can provide over a 10× improvement in effective bandwidth and image quality in its streaming pipeline; actual results will vary by scene, game, network conditions, and eye-tracking performance.

Steam Frame has dual radios: one can maintain regular Wi‑Fi/internet connectivity while the other handles a dedicated 6GHz wireless PC-streaming link via the included adapter. The goal is to reduce congestion and improve reliability compared with relying entirely on a shared home router.

Beyond streaming, a growing number of games are verified to run standalone on the local processor without streaming from your PC. Valve maintains a Steam Frame Standalone Verified list showing which games in your library will work natively on the headset, which you can find here.

What's Included vs What's Sold Separately

The kits come with controllers, wireless adapter, and Half-Life: Alyx. The USB-C power adapter is separate at $29. You'll need one to charge the headset, but it doesn't have to be from Valve.

Valve will also be selling first party ergonomic accessories. The Ergonomic Accessories Kit ($59) includes controller hand straps, headset top strap, and extended light blocker. The Replacement Kit ($49) includes a face gasket, head cushion, and standard light blocker for when things start wearing out.

Expect third-party companies to already be building compatible accessories. Arcturus Vision makes a color passthrough module that upgrades from monochrome to 5K HDR, and VR Wave will be offering lens inserts. 

VR Wave Has Prescription Lenses Ready

When Steam Frame starts shipping, VR Wave will have prescription lenses in stock, so if you win the lottery and need vision correction, you'll have options ready to go.

How the Lottery Works

You enter the lottery by signing up before September 17th 10am PT. Valve randomizes the list and emails everyone with their result: either a spot in the reservation queue or a spot on the waitlist.

If you get into the reservation queue, you get a timed purchase invitation as Valve allocates stock. Starting Friday, September 18, people in the queue are expected to start getting their windows to buy via email. You have 72 hours to complete checkout for your exact model, then the slot moves to the next person in line if you don't buy.

If you end up on the waitlist, you're waiting for the reservation queue to move fast enough that Valve opens it up. That could be weeks or months depending on how fast people actually buy.

It's Finally Here

The official pricing confirms Steam Frame targets a different market than Quest 3. At $1,059 for 256GB and $1,299 for 1TB, you're paying for wireless functionality, better-balanced weight distribution, and direct access to your entire Steam library without cables. 

Battery life is the biggest shortcoming. Plan on 1.5 to 2 hours for typical PCVR streaming, an hour for demanding standalone titles. Streaming from your PC gets way more mileage than rendering locally, so if your primary use case is wireless PCVR, you'll be fine.

If you care about wireless VR and you have a capable gaming PC, Steam Frame might be worth paying attention to. If you just want the cheapest VR headset, Quest 3S is still a fine choice.