Steam Frame Preorders Open at $1,059. Alyx Native Port Confirmed.

Valve opened Steam Frame reservations today with official pricing and a lottery that mirrors Steam Machine. The 256GB headset is $1,059; the 1TB model is $1,299 (VAT-inclusive figures in other markets run in parallel). Road to VR has the full SKU table.

Valve Steam Frame headset and controllers — Steam Frame headset and controllers. Image: Valve (via Road to VR).

This is the price-and-queue beat Metaverse Watcher has been waiting on. Earlier posts covered package churn, summer-window countdown, and backend Alyx promo strings. Today Valve put numbers and a reservation calendar on the table.

Reservation lottery through September 17

Sign-up for the first batch runs through September 17 at 10 AM PT. Valve is not running first-come, first-served. A randomized reservation lottery will assign buyers to a reservation list or a waitlist; emails go out later that day. Valve expects the first purchase emails on September 18, with early units shipping shortly after.

Waitlisted accounts stay in line if more inventory opens. The process is the same anti-scalper pattern Valve used for Steam Machine.

Accessories at launch

First-party kits are priced as follows (USD; other markets listed by Road to VR):

PSU: $29
Ergonomic Accessories Kit (controller hand straps, battery doors, top strap, extended light blocker): $59
Accessory Replacement Kit (face gasket, head cushion, light blocker): $49

Steam Frame with Steam Machine and Steam Controller — Steam Frame beside Steam Machine and Steam Controller. Image: Valve (via Road to VR).

Hardware in one line

Steam Frame is a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 standalone headset that can also stream a PC library over an included wireless dongle. Valve positions streaming as the primary high-fidelity path; on-device play covers optimized VR titles plus Windows games via Proton/FEX and Android-class apps through Lepton — catalog coverage Metaverse Watcher has tracked separately in Great on Frame updates.

Half-Life: Alyx native ARM port

Alongside pricing, Valve confirmed a native ARM64 build of Half-Life: Alyx for Steam Frame. Per Valve (quoted by both Road to VR and The Verge), eye tracking and foveated rendering were the “silver bullet,” with the headset’s 16GB of memory letting Valve keep assets intact so Workshop mods continue to work. The company spent roughly a year on Vulkan driver and SteamVR work that it says benefits other Frame titles, not just Alyx.

Timing nuance matters. Road to VR reports Valve’s line that the standalone port is “intended to ship to customers soon,” not necessarily with the first reservation shipments. The Verge published hands-on of the native port on review hardware and wrote that every Steam Frame includes a copy of Alyx; a Digital Foundry note appended there describes a base 36 fps render with reprojection, and headset refresh at 72 Hz or 108 Hz. Free-bundle confirmation beyond Index-era precedent still varies by outlet — treat “included” as Verge’s reporting, not a Valve storefront guarantee until Valve’s own product page says so.

What this changes

Frame is no longer a summer rumor with missing dollars. Buyers have a price ladder, a three-day reservation window, and a clear first-batch email date. The software story is still Alyx-as-proof, not a new Valve VR exclusive. For anyone who already owns a Quest 3, the question is convenience and Steam library value at $1,059+, not a display leap.

Sources: Road to VR (price, SKUs, reservation lottery, accessories), Road to VR (Alyx timing), The Verge (Alyx ARM hands-on, foveated rendering quotes), Steam Frame store page.