There was lots of smoke signalling the arrival of the Steam Body, and Valve lastly lifted the lid on its secret hearth by formally saying the long-awaited VR headset yesterday – and I believe it has the facility to burn down its XR competitors and reshape the panorama as we all know it.
At the least with respect to headsets.
The constructive early reception and Valve’s intensive catalog of video games put the Body in a robust place for players. This headset isn’t only a standalone VR headset, it’s a wearable Steam Deck that may play flat video games like Hades II and different “Body Verified” titles. What’s extra, because of an included wi-fi dongle, you may stream PCVR titles out of your rig to your headset with out irritating cables getting in the way in which.
I’ve little doubt this system will likely be a gaming juggernaut – for each VR and non-VR titles – and Meta ought to listen because it has successfully stood because the lone king of this house for a really, very very long time.
4 of Meta’s headsets make up the highest 5 most used on Steam this previous month. Its Quest 3 and Quest 2 take the highest two spots with 26.48% and 25.25% of the utilization share, respectively, whereas the Meta Quest 3S and Oculus Rift S add an additional 8.09% and 4.86% to convey its share of customers to a complete of 64.68% from these 4 gadgets alone.
The Valve Index controls simply 14.60%, touchdown itself in third place, however I’ve a suspicion that by the top of 2026, Valve’s share of the VR headset utilization on its platform will likely be a lot bigger than it’s right now.
Talking with The Verge, Valve admitted that whereas its focus is on bringing Android and Meta video games to the Steam Body, Android apps aren’t out of the query, and Valve is just not against seeing extra instruments showing on Steam. Additional, it revealed that it hopes so as to add a browser to the Steam Body, full with multitasking home windows that will help browser-based functions in VR.
However even when the headset’s software program isn’t but productiveness inclined, the {hardware} is.
At 440g, the Steam headset is by far the lightest standalone VR headset of notice – the Meta Quest 3 is 515g, the Samsung Galaxy XR is 545g and the Apple Imaginative and prescient Professional is at the least 750g. Crucially, nevertheless, the Steam Body’s core module (the show, the processing energy, the cameras) may be indifferent from the battery strap to convey its weight all the way down to 185g.
Sure, you’ll want a distinct headstrap, however just like the HTC Vive XR Elite, you might equip a a lot lighter headband than its default choice and have a pair of light-weight VR goggles.
It’ll have to be related to an influence supply by way of a cable of some form, but when the intention is to make use of it at your desk as a digital desktop companion in your pc, a wired tether isn’t all that irritating.
If having the ability to stand up and transfer round is important, 440g continues to be a lot lighter than the competitors, which means its bulk ought to be loads simpler to handle over the course of a full working day.
The one potential foils to the Steam Body’s domination are its lack of full-color combined actuality – it’s solely black and white – and its value. We don’t know the official price but, however leaks level to $1,200, and primarily based on the introduced specs, this value sounds about proper for what Valve is providing – although being strong worth is just not the identical as being reasonably priced.
We’ll have to attend and see how the Steam Body develops, however I firmly imagine that not solely Meta however everybody within the XR house ought to be watching to see if Valve can stick the touchdown.
This headset has the potential to place each competitor to disgrace, which ought to fear Samsung, Apple, and the remaining, and excite all of us ready for a really nice VR headset that doesn’t embrace Quest in its identify.
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