No prices yet. I may never financially recover from this.
Did Valve just announce THREE of something?
Steam Hardware [new Steam Controller, Steam Machine, and VR headset Steam Frame, coming in 2026]
Submitted 9 hours ago by ampersandrew@lemmy.world to games@lemmy.world
https://store.steampowered.com/sale/hardware
Comments
spacemanspiffy@lemmy.world 2 hours ago
Suburbanl3g3nd@lemmings.world 59 minutes ago
Second steam machine (not deck!), Second VR headset, and second controller ( I actually don’t know if that’s totally true)
Pure_Psykosis@lemmy.ca 2 hours ago
Holy shit you’re right.
newthrowaway20@lemmy.world 9 hours ago
I posted this in the other thread, but wanna share here too:
Most interesting thing to me is the Frame apparently runs a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, and is using SteamOS, implying official ARM support for SteamOS, Steam and Proton! Could mean steam and proton coming to android too.
dataprolet@lemmy.dbzer0.com 8 hours ago
And the base would be Arch Linux ARM, right? So that should see an uptick in development too.
kilgore_trout@feddit.it 7 hours ago
Arch Linux has been implementing a build system for other architectures. Perhaps they’ll make ARM official by the time Frame comes out.
grue@lemmy.world 5 hours ago
Jeff Geerling is probably having a fit right now.
noxypaws@pawb.social 4 hours ago
what does that homophobic ass have to do with it, is he not a fan of ARM or something?
Katana314@lemmy.world 8 hours ago
I’m still a little curious how that will work for games. Are they going to somehow emulate Win32 amd64 games? Do devs have to recompile them in some new way? Will engines support it beyond Unity and Unreal?
charizardcharz@piefed.world 7 hours ago
It was mentioned in the LTT coverage. Aside from native ARM games they have a translation layer(FEX) to play x86 games on ARM. They'll have a "Verified" tag like the Steam Deck for compatibility. I assume you'll still be able to force trying to run unverified games.
Natanael@slrpnk.net 8 hours ago
Yup, FEX to translate x86 to ARM.
baronvonj@lemmy.world 6 hours ago
The Frame isn’t playing the games natively on its ARM chip. It’s just streaming audio/visual data from the PC and relaying the controller inputs back to the PC.
stupidcasey@lemmy.world 7 hours ago
It is fascinating and a huge step, but I want to keep expectations low. It will work, but it will not be as compatible as x86 Proton, not at all. It is first and primarily an OS for streaming games and running VR. That is the VR rendering from the streaming computer, not the VR game itself. In other words, they only had to get exactly one app to run well enough for public use. According to the developer, it is working with a surprising amount of games. I agree, one game is surprising, but trust me when I say you will not be running Windows x86 games in ARM Linux for a long time.
theterrasque@infosec.pub 6 hours ago
It’s using an x86 compatibility layer, pex i think it was called. So apparently you will be running windows x86 games on it.
tal@lemmy.today 6 hours ago
I think that for running games locally on the Frame, for anything other than games designed specifically to be gentle on a battery — and many games are not, unfortunately — you’re also really going to need to leave it plugged into a powerbank. The internal battery just isn’t that large relative to what the device can draw.
pcgamer.com/…/steam-frame-specs-availability/
The battery included on the Steam Frame is a 21 Wh model. The Snapdragon system-on-chip gobbles up around 20 W at full power—that’s how much it’ll likely use while playing a game locally in standalone mode. From this, we can expect around an hour of playtime without additional charge.
ivanafterall@lemmy.world 6 hours ago
Sometimes I think about how LOATHED Steam was when in launched. That was probably valid even. Still, it feels worth noting that Valve is maybe THE only company from my childhood that feels like it largely stayed true to its spirit, or whatever.
MurrayL@lemmy.world 4 hours ago
People who came to Steam later on probably don’t realise that when it was new it barely fucking worked.
Downloads crawled, games refused to launch because of authentication issues, friends/chat was offline for literally months, etc.
The only reason it became widely adopted was because Valve forced you to use it if you wanted to play the latest CS or, later, HL2. Everyone hated it.
ampersandrew@lemmy.world 4 hours ago
friends/chat was offline for literally months
Friends lists didn’t work reliably for years.
ivanafterall@lemmy.world 4 hours ago
What if he really wanted to make it up to you? Is there anything he could do to apologize?
Meatwagon@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 hours ago
I was one of the haters when it first launched because I was on dialup at the time and physical discs I bought were forcing me to install steam AND THEN install a massive patch that did not work on dialup. My first day playthrough of Skyrim was ruined because of that. Took a week for that shit to download even though I went physically to a store.
But now Steam is the last man standing between us and corporate greed.
samus12345@sh.itjust.works 4 hours ago
A_Random_Idiot@lemmy.world 2 hours ago
But now Steam is the last man standing between us and corporate greed.
Man how quickly people forget what things were like before the lawsuits forced valve to make steam more consumer friendly and regulatory abiding…
Buddahriffic@lemmy.world 3 hours ago
I remember being annoyed that I had to install yet another launcher and make yet another account when I was installing portal. But I didn’t know at the time that this was the launcher to end most other launchers and accounts, or at the very least made most of that transparent other then adding an extra click to launch some games.
Iirc, Blizzard had just replaced the wow in-game patcher with a launcher (though I don’t recall if they had a unified launcher for each game, if they all had their own at that point, or if it was just wow), Oblivion had a game launcher, and I think there were a few others. Some of them even needed to be installed separately iirc.
Steam is nice because, being the launcher for most of my games, it’s just always open and helps organize my games. And it doesn’t feel like its main purpose is to make money, with everything else just being about opening pathways to that money. And even though it is meant to make Valve money, it’s the lack of blatant dark patterns and constant upsell attempts that makes it feel better than most of the rest of the commercial world.
But_my_mom_says_im_cool@lemmy.world 4 hours ago
They have good PR and fanboy propaganda. They’re every bit as evil as every game company out there. Steam fans just got tricked into thinking Gabe was THEIR billionaire and steam is THEIR billionaire corporation, and they can do no wrong. No other game platform has a fan base as aggressive and hostile when you point it out
Rose@lemmy.zip 2 hours ago
Technically no PR. Their MO has been to let others do the work. Their games come from hired modders, with many skins made by the community. Their localizations are from the community. The game devs and publishers have to moderate their own spaces on Steam. The players do product promotions by using the social network of Steam. Valve is practically unreachable for the press, and their actual press releases are the rawest I’ve seen: infrequent, featuring no images and little information. Their press account is run by Kaci Aitchinson, the local Fox News host who was originally hired to present The International for Dota 2, but ended up doing a bit of everything, like many at Valve.
ivanafterall@lemmy.world 3 hours ago
The downvotes seem to agree with you…?
A_Random_Idiot@lemmy.world 3 hours ago
because most people got exposed to steam on HL2’s launch. Where they bought the physical game, came home, installed it off like 5 CDs… then had to run steam to decrypt it and download more files because the fucking install was encrypted, and the goddamn fucking decryption took like 8 hours if you didnt have the worlds greatest computer.
Nope, I’m still totally not salty about not being able to play the game I fucking bought until the day after cause bullshit encryption fuckery, why would you ever think that.
I still have that goddamn box somewhere… i need to dig it up and see what release retail HL2 is like compared to HL2 you’d downlaod today from steam…
ivanafterall@lemmy.world 2 hours ago
Well, I bought Half-Life and OG You Don’t Know Jack on discs at Target, then had to return them because HL didn’t run and YDKJ was “too worldly.” So.
Jarix@lemmy.world 5 hours ago
It happened to me (with blizzard)…and it will happen to you!
Klear@quokk.au 4 hours ago
A lot of companies turned to utter shit over the years but Blizzard hit me the hardest I think.
heavy@sh.itjust.works 5 hours ago
It basically didn’t add any value to the experience. We just wanted to play CS, and steam just got in the way.
crunchy@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 hours ago
I just paid $20 for a physical copy Counter Strike, and I find out I need to install an additional launcher and make an account to play the game I just installed. It’s the principle of the thing!
tal@lemmy.today 8 hours ago
Dang. The new Steam Controller has a D-pad, buttons, thumbsticks, gyros, and trackpads.
And the thumbsticks are TMR (like Hall effect, but nicer).
As long as it’s comfortable to reach all that stuff, that’s gonna be a new bar for PC game controllers.
e0qdk@reddthat.com 8 hours ago
Now if it just had a replaceable battery…
piyuv@lemmy.world 8 hours ago
It does! Verge reports that battery pops out like old cellphone batteries
rtxn@lemmy.world 8 hours ago
It probably will. Watch Gamers Nexus’ video, it has a short clip that shows the battery, and it looks like it’s held in a receptacle like removable phone batteries. Valve have already said that you’d be able to disassemble the controller with a screwdriver, but no word yet on replacement parts.
null@piefed.nullspace.lol 8 hours ago
I personally think the Deck is very comfortable given its bulk. I have a lot of faith in the controller ergonomics.
Chee_Koala@lemmy.world 4 hours ago
The first time I held a deck I was kind of amazed at how comfortable it is to hold. Bricks shouldn’t be that comfy to hold, but, it is. The ergonomics are spot on. Gotta handle the Steam Controller V2 myself before any verdict, but I have high hopes.
M137@lemmy.world 4 hours ago
I’ve been dreaming if this since the first steam controller released. I absolutely loved it, but it definitely had it’s quirks and issues. This seems just like the upgrade that I wished for in every way possible, with some added nice stuff on top. I just hope it won’t be $100+
victorz@lemmy.world 8 hours ago
The 8bitDo Ultimate 2 has TMR sticks too, best controller I’ve used. Better than the Xbox Elite Controller Series 2. I do wish the 8bitDo had 4 underside buttons instead of only 2, but it’s still better. The sticks are insane.
Prove_your_argument@piefed.social 7 hours ago
~$25 for an 8bitdo ultimate 2c! The price is just too good. I know it doesn’t have TMR or the extra buttons, but it just works and feels really good to me compared to the xbox elite controller that got the shoulder button issue within 3 months for me.
The trackpads are unnecessary imo. Games made for controller aren’t going to expect the deck touchpads, they’re gonna expect xbox and playstation controllers without it. The touchpads just fit a very specific niche of people who want to play with the steam deck on a TV in games that are not fully controller supported and don’t have a keyboard and mouse paired for that use case. Always better to have options I suppose.
RunJun@lemmy.dbzer0.com 8 hours ago
Only one company has apparently learned how to print money and not be ghouls.
Creat@discuss.tchncs.de 3 hours ago
Steam is still privately owned, never went public. No share holders demanding things surely is a major factor.
vin@lemmynsfw.com 1 hour ago
Privately owned still means shareholders. Ultimately it comes down to the board and the rules around it, not so much as to whether it is publicly listed.
RunJun@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 hours ago
I’m aware. Once Gabe retires or dies, I’m going to start distrusting Valve. Once they go public, it’s over.
GraveyardOrbit@lemmy.zip 6 hours ago
Their entire profit margin is pushing gambling on children
Cocodapuf@lemmy.world 5 hours ago
I mean, they get a sizable cut from the majority of games sold on PC. I think that’s their business model.
I hear you about loot boxes and skins and stuff. It’s just, that has to be a small part of their total profit.
ampersandrew@lemmy.world 8 hours ago
To be fair, they say they made a lot of tradeoffs in the name of being price conscience, but they haven’t put a price on it yet.
DrDystopia@lemy.lol 3 hours ago
They have haptic grip sensors and ALL the sticks and pads, I wonder what they traded off lol
Walk_blesseD@piefed.blahaj.zone 3 hours ago
Yeah sure I love their hardware and contributions to software, but I’d say profiteering off of children gambling for over 10 years is pretty ghoulish.
OnfireNFS@lemmy.world 3 hours ago
Hmm this makes me wonder if the Steam Deck 2 will be ARM. If the Steam Frame works well if that could be a way for Valve to push more performance/battery life out of the deck
four@lemmy.zip 3 hours ago
With Valve talking about open ecosystems so much, I have glimmer of hope that they’ll move to RISC-V.
Probably not gonna happen though… At least not yet
turmacar@lemmy.world 2 hours ago
That would be amazing, but given how speculative the Framework and other RISC projects are I feel like that would be a massive headline for Valve.
vane@lemmy.world 2 hours ago
Where’s my Steam Phone Gabe ?
SailorMoss@sh.itjust.works 1 hour ago
With GameHub lite you can run steam games on high end android phones right now. GameHub lite is based on the work valve has been doing to get games running on ARM. I won’t be surprised if valve announces official steam for android in the next few years. (Steam for android as in an app that can run your games not just browsing the store).
vane@lemmy.world 1 hour ago
Don’t android me, I want KDE plasma steam phone dude.
TonyTonyChopper@mander.xyz 33 minutes ago
Oh boy Unreal Engine 5 titles at 0.5 fps instead of 5
Damage@feddit.it 6 hours ago
I want them all, but mostly the Frame. Finally decent Linux VR? On a standalone device that can also stream from a PC? On ARM?! It seems too good to be true.
vodka@feddit.org 6 hours ago
And: "cheaper than the index“ Sure that only means less than 1000usd (unless they mean the headset only price at 500…?) but that’s still better than I was assuming it’d be.
magic_internet_wizard@lemmy.world 4 hours ago
wonderful time for linux on arm as well. if i read the post right, it seems there will be standalone games that will be compatible with it- even non vr ones.
Allowing diversity of hardware and operation system environments is going to be amazing. arm is so much more efficient and being able to run linux on arm while getting mainstream games is going to be cool as fuck
Kolanaki@pawb.social 4 hours ago
I hope the Frame is as cheap or cheaper than a Meta Quest 3.
unit327@lemmy.zip 4 hours ago
No way it is as cheap as a q3. All valve have said is that they are aiming for < the price of a valve index full kit. uploadvr.com/valve-steam-frame-hands-on-impressio…
ptolemai@lemmy.world 3 hours ago
The cameras can’t track eyes with the headset on …Unless they make it like the vision pro, where your eyes show up on the headset’s outer screen. ಠᴗಠ
magic_internet_wizard@lemmy.world 4 hours ago
steam deck is still incredibly good for what you get. i have on of the original ones with a 64 gb ssd and although i have some hangups with that i just put in a 1.5 terabyte sd card and it runs almost everything i throw at it. just discovered the other night it can do vr very poorly with a beta steam client and beta steam vr while streaming to my quest 3s with steam link. we really live in a new era.
Kolanaki@pawb.social 4 hours ago
I could have had one and didn’t get it because I never really go anywhere other than work. But boy did I regret it when I was at BLFC recently. My hotel roommates all had one and were playing Helldivers and Rocket League every night 😩
NOT_RICK@lemmy.world 8 hours ago
Been waiting for a competitor to the meta quest. Looks like my patience has paid off. I hope it’s not too pricey/compromised
rtxn@lemmy.world 8 hours ago
“The Frame headset won’t be priced higher than the Index”:
PalmTreeIsBestTree@lemmy.world 4 hours ago
I can’t wait to get the controller
DrDystopia@lemy.lol 3 hours ago
That controller makes me swoon.
magic_lobster_party@fedia.io 8 hours ago
A brief moment of KDE desktop shown.
2026 will be the year of Linux Desktop!
LettyWhiterock@lemmy.world 2 hours ago
With the fact there’s apparently surprisingly reasonable evidence of a new half life game, I wonder if that’s likely to get announced when they give these a release date. I could see them bundling it with the steam machines at least. Assuming the rumors turn out to be true.
mintiefresh@piefed.social 8 hours ago
Oh my god, my wallet is in trouble haha
But_my_mom_says_im_cool@lemmy.world 4 hours ago
I had a horrible flashback to the Ouija, that thing traumatized me
rtxn@lemmy.world 8 hours ago
The controller is exactly what I wanted. Take a Steam Deck, cut out the middle, glue the grips back together.
A_Random_Idiot@lemmy.world 3 hours ago
I give exactly zero fucks about any of this until they show prices.
circuitfarmer@lemmy.world 5 hours ago
As someone still using Steam Controller 1 on the daily, I am stoked to see that they have not abandoned the trackpads. Civ from the couch ftw.
kratoz29@lemmy.zip 7 hours ago
NGL the cube thingy looks so damn attractive to me, especially as I don’t own any form of PC gaming…
Now please Steam, officially sell to Mexico god damn it!
Asafum@feddit.nl 8 hours ago
Finally! I’ve been holding out for years waiting on steam to release a new VR set, time to finally get one!
merdaverse@lemmy.zip 3 hours ago
Didn’t Steam already have some home console like hardware a few years ago? That flopped so badly I don’t even remember the name
Auth@lemmy.world 8 hours ago
Lets fucking go! This lineup looks sick.
SolarPunker@slrpnk.net 2 hours ago
Indiegames cube!
warm@kbin.earth 8 hours ago
This is so fucking good for linux gaming
ameancow@lemmy.world 5 hours ago
The timing is great as I learn my healthcare premiums are likely to go up by over a thousand dollars a month.
arudesalad@piefed.ca 8 hours ago
The frame being a standalone linux headset is huge, hopefully this does to vr what the deck did to pancake.
(I know vr works on linux already but it's a pain)
silverchase@sh.itjust.works 8 hours ago
Hell yeah! I have an upgrade path for my original Steam Controllers!
PP_BOY_@lemmy.world 9 hours ago
Glad to have sold my Index this past summer. Prices are gonna plummet once V.2 comes out
archchan@lemmy.ml 54 minutes ago
happy noises