But the Steam Frame reveals that Valve’s ambitions go much deeper. The standalone VR headset runs SteamOS on a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor based on the Arm architecture, rather than the x86 processors from AMD and Intel that have powered PC gaming for decades.
And Valve expects your existing x86 Windows games to run on it anyway. That’s why the Arm chip inside Steam Frame matters so much more than VR. Valve is starting to dismantle the fundamental assumptions about which hardware and software a gaming PC needs to run your games.
The writing is on the wall. We’re looking at the endgame for everything Valve has been building with SteamOS, Proton, Steam Deck, and now Steam Frame: Buy anywhere, play anywhere. Your Steam library won’t care what operating system you’re using, what processor architecture sits inside your device, or, eventually, even what type of device you’re holding. As long as you’ve got enough compute and graphics horsepower to run the game, Steam will figure out the rest.
And that would be a true game-changer. Buckle up.
Hi! I’m Brad, PCWorld’s executive editor. Want to get more hard-hitting journalism like this wherever you are? Sign up for PCWorld’s Full Nerd and Boost Mode newsletters for PC enthusiasts, and be sure to subscribe to PCWorld on YouTube and all the usual social channels. Welcome to the PCWorld family!
First Valve made Windows optional
The Steam Deck’s software magic is easy to take for granted now, but it’s worth revisiting how crazy its basic premise once sounded.
Most PC games are Windows games. Valve didn’t solve that problem by convincing thousands of developers to create and maintain native Linux versions. It built Proton to let the Windows versions run on Linux instead.