Valve Launches £1,089 Steam Frame VR Headset as Rising RAM Costs Push VR Further Upmarket
Updated
Updated · BBC.com · Sep 14
Valve Launches £1,089 Steam Frame VR Headset as Rising RAM Costs Push VR Further Upmarket
3 articles · Updated · BBC.com · Sep 14
Summary
Valve has released the Steam Frame in the UK at £889 for 256GB and £1,089 for 1TB, putting its new standalone headset firmly in the premium tier.
RAM prices more than doubled between October 2025 and early 2026, and Valve developer Jeremy Selan said the company had aimed for a cheaper device before the global memory market drove costs higher.
440g Steam Frame wins praise for comfort, pancake lenses and wireless PC streaming, using foveated streaming to keep the image sharp where the user is looking while cutting bandwidth elsewhere.
The price revives a wider debate over VR affordability: Meta's Quest 3 launched at £480 in 2023, though supporters note the Quest 3S has fallen as low as £250 and argue VR remains an early-stage market.