Valve posted a new article on its own blog titled “Steam Hardware: Launch timing and other FAQs,” and it’s there to answer some of the most pressing questions about the upcoming hardware.
The company states that it still plans to ship the Steam Controller, Steam Machine, and Steam Frame in the first half of the year, but there’s no certainty in the exact launch dates or pricing yet due to rising component prices and constraints.
According to the post, Valve expected to share concrete pricing and dates by now after revealing the three products in November. Instead, it says industry-wide memory and storage shortages have rapidly increased since then, pushing up costs and limiting the availability of key parts. This is a particular problem for Steam Machine and Steam Frame, where component pricing and supply can directly affect the final retail price and the shipping plan.
The underlying message of the article is clear: Valve still intends to release the hardware in the first half of the year as planned, but there’s still lots of work to do before it can announce details and pricing that won’t change immediately.
Here’s the entire FAQ section of the article:
Steam Frame and VR
Will Steam Frame support other streaming services?
SteamOS has a built-in browser, and we expect streaming services to work in a theatrical browser mode.
How can I request a Steam Frame developer kit?
Steamworks developers can submit a request for Steam Frame dev kits at the partner site.
Supplies are limited, but we are sending out kits on an ongoing basis.
Will Steam Frame work with lighthouse base stations?
It’s not something we’re working on, but we built Steam Frame to be modular and extensible so that the community and 3rd parties can build out the features and accessories that are important to them.
Can Steam Frame be used while wearing glasses?
A bunch of people on the team wear glasses and use Steam Frame without issue, but it really depends on the width of the glasses frames. And while we don’t have details to share yet, we are looking into making prescription lens inserts available ahead of launch.
I heard that Steam Frame has foveated streaming – is that the same thing as foveated rendering? What games support it?
With Steam Frame, we are introducing a new feature called foveated streaming. While both use eye tracking data, the technology is different:
• Foveated rendering uses eye tracking data so the game only renders high resolution data in the portion of the viewport that the player is looking at.
• Foveated streaming, on the other hand, uses eye tracking data so that the PC only streams high resolution data in the portion of the viewport the player is looking at.
Since foveated streaming is a system-level feature, it applies to all games, and requires no game developer work. If a game implements foveated rendering, the benefits of that feature will stack with foveated streaming.
Will Valve Index have ongoing product support?
While we’re no longer making Valve Index, we do intend to support Index owners the same way we have in the past on an ongoing basis.
Steam Machine
How well can Steam Machine play newer, more demanding games on Steam?
In our testing the majority of Steam titles play great at 4K 60FPS with FSR on Steam Machine. That said, there are some titles that currently require more upscaling than others, and it may be preferable to play at a lower framerate with VRR to maintain a 1080p internal resolution.
In the meantime, we are working on HDMI VRR, investigating improved upscaling, and optimizing ray tracing performance in the driver, so we are approaching this from multiple angles.
Will third parties be able to make faceplates for Steam Machine? Will you be making the CAD for those faceplates available?
Yes, we plan to share faceplate CAD, specs, and details in the coming months, for customers and manufacturers to make their own.
What components of Steam Machine are upgradeable?
Steam Machine’s SSD (NVMe 2230 or 2280) and memory (DDR5 SODIMMs) are both accessible and upgradeable.
Steam Controller
Can I play non-steam games with the Steam Controller?
The controller can work with any game compatible with the Steam Overlay.
Valve promises more details for the Steam Controller, Steam Machine, and Steam Frame to come before the actual release.
