Valve's wireless headset finally has a price, and Australia is in the first wave. You can't just walk up and buy one though. You put your name down for the model you want, Valve randomises the order on Thursday US time, and then an email tells you whether you've got a reservation or a spot on the waitlist. Sign-ups shut at 3am Friday here, so this one has a clock on it.
The 256GB Steam Frame is A$1,609 and the 1TB is A$1,969. Valve says those figures include VAT where it applies. Australia is one of the regions Valve ships to directly through Steam, alongside the US, Canada, the UK and the EU. Japan, Taiwan and Hong Kong go through a distributor instead, with Korea to follow. The announcement didn't put a figure on delivery.
The power supply is not in the box
That line is worth reading twice. Valve sells the 45W supply and its 2.5 metre cable as a separate A$49 accessory. Two other kits sit alongside it. The ergonomic one is A$99 and covers two controller hand straps and battery doors, a headset top strap and a longer light blocker. The replacement kit is A$89 for a face gasket, head cushion and standard light blocker. All of them are add-to-cart options at checkout, and only for people who have already been sent a purchase email. So the realistic number to have in your head is A$1,658, not A$1,609.
How the queue works
Valve has run this before with Steam Machine, and says the reservation system makes buying less of a scramble and keeps resellers out of it. You sign up now for the model you want. Sign-ups close on 17 September at 10am Pacific, which is 3am on Friday 18 September for us. Valve then does one randomisation and emails everyone on the 17th US time to say whether you're in the reservation queue or on the waitlist. The first purchase emails begin going out on the 18th. If you land on the waitlist, Valve says it'll let you know if you move up.
What you actually get
It's a standalone headset that also streams your whole Steam library off a PC. Valve's own spec sheet lists a 4nm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, 16GB of LPDDR5X and a 2160 by 2160 LCD per eye, running anywhere from 72Hz to 144Hz, with the 144Hz mode flagged as experimental. Tracking is inside-out through the cameras. The headset carries Wi-Fi 7 and a Wi-Fi 6E wireless adapter is in the box. Storage is UFS with a microSD slot, and it runs SteamOS 3 with the 6-DOF Steam Frame controllers.
Half-Life: Alyx is included, one copy per headset, and if it's already sitting in your library you can't claim another. Valve says more than 100 games are Steam Frame Standalone Verified and the list is still growing. The battery is 21.6Wh. I haven't found a runtime figure from Valve yet, so treat any number you see floating around as someone's estimate rather than a spec.