Microsoft shut AltspaceVR on March 10, 2023. SideQuest Ltd. now has a STEAM store page for a NEW AltspaceVR client, headed “Coming Soon To Early Access,” dated OCTOBER 2026, priced FREE TO PLAY, and listing Steam Frame on the RECOMMENDED line. That is a narrower artifact than SideQuest’s earlier FALL teaser: a live STORE PAGE with requirements, platform claims, and a written EARLY ACCESS plan.
According to the Steam listing for AppID 5289710, SideQuest Ltd. is both DEVELOPER and PUBLISHER. Support and website links point at altvr.app. The page does NOT claim that Microsoft-era accounts, worlds, or content CARRY OVER. SteamDB records the most recent store-asset change at 12:44 UTC on October 13, 2026 — a timestamp for art, not the day the listing was CREATED.
What the page actually locks in
Steam’s Early Access header says the build is “Coming Soon To Early Access,” with a planned RELEASE window of OCTOBER 2026 and NO calendar day. The store marks the title FREE TO PLAY. In the Early Access FAQ, SideQuest writes: “AltspaceVR is free to play and we currently plan for it to REMAIN FREE after leaving Early Access.” It aims for “around 6–12 months” in Early Access and says it does not “want to set an ARTIFICIAL deadline.”
Minimum VR support lists OpenXR, PCVR, and Steam Link. Recommended VR support lists OpenXR and STEAM FRAME — not a generic PC-VR headset. The about text also names Meta Quest, Pico, Android, and Windows PC, “including support for compatible SteamVR/OpenXR headsets,” and stresses that a HEADSET is optional: “AltspaceVR works just fine on Desktop and Android without VR.”
What Early Access is for
SideQuest describes the CORE as already PLAYABLE: shared multiplayer Worlds, avatars, spatial voice chat, and events, in both VR and desktop MODE. Early Access is framed around the SYSTEMS still being designed — friends and messaging, groups, world and event DISCOVERY, progression, moderation and safety tools, and creator tooling. The studio’s stated reason is blunt: “AltspaceVR is a SOCIAL world, so many of the decisions that matter most can’t really be made without an ACTIVE community using it.” Features that work may EXPAND; ideas that do not “may be redesigned or replaced.”
How this differs from the fall teaser
This site’s September 6 coverage tracked SideQuest’s FALL 2026 rebuild promise and the Altspace NAME acquisition. The NEW fact today is the STEAM listing itself: FREE TO PLAY, Early Access language, October as the MONTH, Steam Frame on the RECOMMENDED line, and platform claims that include Quest and Pico alongside PC. Mixed News reported the same store page on October 15, 2026. None of those sources publish a ship DAY inside October, and none promise Microsoft data MIGRATION.
For readers following Steam Frame hardware stories elsewhere on this site, the useful distinction is NARROW: Frame appears here only as a recommended-spec LABEL on a social app’s store page, not as a new Frame hardware leak. Until SideQuest posts a day and a client people can LAUNCH, treat October as a WINDOW and the FREE price as the clearest COMMITMENT on the page.
Sources: Steam — AltspaceVR (AppID 5289710); SteamDB — App 5289710 info; Mixed News — AltspaceVR Steam Early Access listing (Oct 15, 2026); altvr.app; prior MW coverage of the Fall 2026 rebuild.