I'm impressed with Valve. I think they do a good job of not simply releasing a product to meet some arbitrary release cycle. And I think everything unveiled here is interesting, with one notable exception. And it may or may not be the item you're expecting. Though, I will dive into rationale as I go through this.
I want to go from my least liked item to my most. So without further ado:
#3 - Steam Machine
This, for me, is the least exciting announcement. Yes. Valve did wait for more than an incremental improvement over the original Steam Machine and succeeded across numerous categories in this respect. And, I do believe that there is a market for this product. Frankly, this is what I was expected Microsoft to do with XBox; just converge Windows and XBox OS and deliver some standardized PC hardware.
Valve's problem here is twofold:
- This is just a computer.
- Pricing it as a entry level gaming PC.
Being a computer isn't a problem in the traditional sense, but it clashes with the second point. At the end of the day, this product doesn't really need to exist. There are tons of videos out there of people using the Steam OS restore image to make small form factor gaming PCs running either Steam OS or Bazzite or any of a number of other gaming focused Linux OSes.
This WOULD make sense if the price were more competitive. But (per some videos covering this) Valve apparently plans to price it more like an entry level gaming PC because it is a more utilitarian device than something like the Frame or Deck and it runs the risk of people simply buying it to use as a computer and then they reap no Store Store value.
What I find funny here is that, if true, this reasoning really just drives home that there is nothing special about this device. It is just a PC and will likely have typical PC pricing. Frankly, I would prefer Valve focus on expanding hardware support for Steam OS. People installing Steam OS costs valve next to nothing and people who install Steam OS are likely to buy stuff through the Steam Store.
So, by the same supposed logic that makes Valve want to price this hardware higher than they could, they would be making a better financial decision in expanding support for Steam OS.
I will stop here circle back to there being a market for this. Not everyone has the confidence/skill/etc... to build a custom Steam OS based system. And since no one has stepped up an mass produced an alternative SFF PC on Steam OS, this certainly DOES serve a market.
And I want to be clear. I'm not trying to bash this product. Just explaining why it is the least exciting entrant to me. Which is that it is nothing more than a minimally upgradeable entry-mid level gaming PC which seems like it will also be priced as such.
#2 - Steam Frame
.... and (I suspect that) I am subverting expectations yet again! Though, once again, this is not a jab at the headset. The gap between #3 and #2 is WIDE whereas I had a brief struggle deciding which item would get the #1 spot.
From a Valve hardware perspective this is, yet again, a decent upgrade/change from the last generation of headset Valve released. Given that this is an ARM chipset, despite also running Steam OS this doesn't have the same broad level utility as the Steam Machine. The form factor helps there as well. With that, it seems more likely that this one will be priced somewhere in the ballpark of something like a Quest 3S. Things like the monochrome passthrough mode really help cement this.
I for one do not buy that it will be nearly as cheap as everyone is thinking though. At best, I think it will cost more than the Quest 3S and less than the full blown Quest 3. Though, things like storage amounts could make them hard to compare.
For me, this beats it's cube-y brethren by being the only mass market option for a Steam first experience on a VR headset. It also adds some connectivity hacks for wireless PCVR and absorbs some of the best practices in the industry for controller tracking.
On the flip side, it loses the Steam Controller because I'm not sure that the advances and differentiators VS the competition make it enough of an upgrade to be a no-brainer. This will appeal and appeal broadly to people already in the Steam ecosystem, but it won't draw people away from, say Meta or Apple headsets.
If the pricing estimates are correct, they may not need to draw people away from Apple/Meta. Many people may just buy both. And while that it still a win for Valve, the fact is that people who can only afford one device might still choose a Quest 3S and simply the use existing solutions PC VR.
Barring some dick move like deprecating the existing Steam apps on Quest, I just don't feel like this positions itself as a true competitor to the Quest or Apple Vision lineups.
#1 Steam Controller
This looks like a pretty massive upgrade over the previous generation. Like the Frame it also takes a lot of cues from the competition and copies a lot of the best in class options. It also has class leading joy stick technology and a dongle to provide a dedicated communication stream for low latency when used wirelessly.
I'm not a controller fanboy, but this controller makes a solid argument for switching from existing products.
Honorable Mentions
Honestly, I kind of wish Steam released the connectivity chip in the Frame + dongle as a dedicated product to use with Quest or other headsets. I'm not sure how feasible that is, but that was actually the standout feature from the whole reveal. I get that the foveated streaming is a big portion of why it works so well, but I think a lot of people would gladly accept just an all around lower bitrate as a fair trade off to get that level of latency from an untethered connection.
And, in the same vein, the dongle for the controllers is actually my second honorable mention. Not using an industry standard port for the charging aspect probably derails this one for use with other products. But it was otherwise the second coolest thing unveiled.
The two of them together make for what will likely be an unparalleled untethered PC VR experience.
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