Opinions on Valve's new Hardware

Thoughts on Valve's new Hardware

Many who know me these days know that I'm someone who cares a lot for Virtual Reality, specifically on the Social App side of things (ChilloutVR, PoligonVR, VRChat, etc.) and I also like Valve Hardware (I used to use a Valve Index in 2021 and I own a 64GB Steam Deck, hey I don't have a lot of Money as it is)

Just this Wednesday Valve has Revealed Three New Pieces of Hardware to add to their Existing Lineup (or lack of at the time, lol) which is Pretty Exciting News!'

I've been taking the Info as it's been coming in, and wanted to share some of my thoughts.

Note: I am also going to speculate Prices, all prices are in USD$

Steam Controller

I have zero experience with The OG Steam Controller, but I do have experience with the Steam Deck and I will say that, while the Design of The Controller looks odd, take it from me that it's likely a lot more comfortable than you'd think, Everything is easily accessible by your thumbs and those Trackpads are a lot more useful than you may otherwise think, especially for games that are not made for a Controller, making macros and custom user interfaces simple and easy, plus providing a convenient way to use the Mouse Cursor without having to take a hand off the controller. It's quite amazing!

My Speculated Price: $70

Most Controllers go for this price point and considering the features I'd be surprised if it sold for any more or less, maybe I can maybe accept it costing $80 but that'd put me very far off from wanting to buy one considering the Dualshock 4 and the Dualsense exist.

Steam Machine

Wow, the Steam Machine Brand is making a comeback, that was not on my 2025 Bingo Card.

Setting the Bar for what an Entry Level PC is/will be is exciting and it seems that it'll be plenty powerful for most of what you want to throw at it. I'm not a big fan of upscaling like DLSS or FSR, I like my Pixels Raw when performance allows and it seems FSR is how the 4k60fps claim is getting made, but I think for Raw 1080p it's a great machine not to mention it's setup more like a Console similar to the Steam Deck. It's great to have a TV Box from Valve Again!

My Speculated Price Range for the Lowest Tier: $500 - $700

Valve has said they're not Subsidizing the Cost with Steam Game Revenue like they are with the Steam Deck, so this is my speculation on what the Lowest Tier of Steam Machine will cost considering the hardware cost and that they want to make a profit. It's not something I'm currently interested in, but I'm happy it's there and I see many use cases for it. Maybe I'll pick one up if I ever move in with someone.

Steam Frame

Deckard is Real!?!

This is the Big One, what many of us in the PCVR Space Have Been Waiting for! Personally, I'm excited for it and the features it brings! Unfortunate for some it's not Lighthouse Tracked, I'm indifferent to it's tracking system, plus an Expansion Port exists so maybe someone will put together a Lighthouse Face Plate of some sort? I have my doubts but it's a possibility none-the-less.

Getting off the Lighthouse Subject, the controllers feature so many more buttons which is exciting for me as a Power PCVR User, I want to keep my controls as untouched as possible, and with the addition of so many more buttons one can now set Overlay Actions to these without needing to sacrifice a used button (Quest Controllers are the Standard, so having more buttons than that is really helpful as a Power user.), it appears Valve will be selling Controller Straps for the Controllers, I think there may be a sizable amount of third-party strap makers but we'll see what comes of it.

I find it somewhat funny that the back and the front are connected via a wire, but it kinda makes sense, a lot of other headsets try to either avoid doing such a thing or try to hide the wiring inside the Headstrap making it irreplaceable, Valve seemingly decided "Nah, wire" and I respect it tremendously.

Dude... eye tracking... EYE TRACKING!!! There isn't even much to say about this, I mean Foveated Streaming is cool and efficient but I don't have much to say about that, I already use my Quest 3 in Virtual Desktop at 100mbps so I already Stream VR from my PC perfectly fine. Guess it'll make everything look a lot better.

If there's one thing from this list I absolutely want, it's the Steam Frame.

My Speculated Price Range for the Lowest Tier: $600 - $800

I'm leaning more towards the idea that it may be $700, $600 is a hope more than anything, with the hardware it's packing there's no way it's lower.

Closing Notes

I'm hopeful my Price Speculations are somewhere in the ballpark of correct, especially the Steam Frame (Please don't be $800, Please don't be $800). I'm very excited for that one, but all this extra hardware is super cool to see and I'm happy it's here. I may try and pickup one of those Steam Controllers if the price isn't too high for my liking.

If you want to support me and whatever shenanigans I end up posting here or anywhere else for that matter I have a Ko-Fi Page where you can throw money my way, thank you for listening to my thoughts on this and I hope you're as excited as I am (although it'll take some time before I can hope to afford a Steam Frame, it's a dream)