Valve's Steam Frame arrives at $1,059, and it ships with Half-Life: Alyx

What Valve just opened up

Valve began taking Steam Frame reservations on 14 September 2026, its first standalone headset and the piece of the company's 2026 hardware push that sits alongside the Steam Machine and a new Steam Controller, Road to VR and Dexerto reported. Two configurations were announced: a 256GB kit at $1,059 and a 1TB kit at $1,299, both prices dated to the reveal (Road to VR, 14 September 2026).

The Frame runs SteamOS and is pitched two ways at once. It is a native VR headset, and it is also a route into the wider Steam library, either handled on the device itself or streamed from a PC. That dual role is the whole idea, and it shapes both the spec sheet and the price.

The specs, as listed

As of the 14 September reveal, Dexerto reported the Frame uses a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip with 16GB of RAM, dual 2160 x 2160 LCD panels, one per eye, and a refresh range of 72Hz to 144Hz, with 144Hz flagged as experimental. Tracking is inside-out, and the bundled Steam Frame controllers carry full six-degrees-of-freedom tracking on top of standard gamepad inputs.

Connectivity is listed as Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4, with microSD expansion, built-in speakers and microphones (Dexerto). Every kit ships with those controllers, a copy of Half-Life: Alyx and a wireless streaming adapter. Road to VR notes the included dongle uses Wi-Fi 6E to keep latency down when you stream from a PC rather than run a title on the headset.

What costs extra

The power brick is not in the box. Valve lists a 45W supply at $29, and both outlets note that a Steam Deck charger, or any USB-C charger rated at 45W or higher, will do the job. Optional extras at launch include an Ergonomic Accessories Kit at $59 and an Accessory Replacement Kit at $49 (Road to VR, Dexerto).

Those add-ons are small next to the base price, but they are worth factoring in, because the headline $1,059 figure is a starting point rather than the full out-the-door cost for most buyers.

How you actually buy one

Valve did not put the Frame behind an open buy button. Sign-ups ran from 14 September to 10am PT on 17 September, after which the company said it would notify people of reservation or waitlist status, with purchase emails going out from 18 September (Road to VR). Road to VR reported Valve is running a randomized reservation lottery specifically to limit resellers, so early availability depends on the draw rather than refresh-button luck.

Our take

At $1,059 to start, the Steam Frame is not an impulse purchase, and the spec sheet places it as a premium standalone-plus-streaming headset rather than a budget entry point. We are dating the price and configurations to the 14 September reveal, because regional pricing and stock will keep moving as the reservation waves clear. If Valve changes either, we will update. For now the pitch is clear enough: a SteamOS headset that wants to play both your VR games and your flatscreen library, at a price that reflects that ambition.