Valve has officially and inconspicuously revealed that it plans to launch its Steam Machine and Steam Frame this summer. After months of speculation and rumors, the target release window has been narrowed down to sometime this summer. Valve slipped the release info in a recent blog post detailing standalone verification for the new gaming hardware. Now, one might think that given the interest for both pieces of hardware, Valve might’ve chosen a more formal announcement, but things are what they are, and here you go.
“Today we are expanding the Verified program to include Steam Machine and Steam Frame, both of which are shipping this summer. As with Steam Deck Verified, the goal is to help customers understand the out-of-box experience for a given title on these new devices, and how smoothly a game will run with no user work or configuration required.”
– Valve
Steam’s verified program is a database clarifying the compatibility of games with Steam’s Linux-based Proton OS. Up until now, it has been used to aid owners of the Steam Deck to see compatibility ratings for games on the gaming handheld, but now includes ratings for the Steam Machine gaming console and the Steam Frame VR headset. Valve previously revealed requirements for both pieces of hardware, advising developers that optimizing for lower spec machines increases their target audience back in March.
“Long story short: If your game already runs well on Deck, it will also run well on Machine with no extra work required from you. And if it doesn’t run great on Deck because of CPU or GPU performance, it may still run great on Machine.”
– Valve
Those details continue to align with Valve’s latest in that if a title runs well on the Steam Deck, it will also do so on the Steam Machine, but it’s added that if a game doesn’t perform well on the Steam Deck, it could see better performance on the Steam Deck with its more powerful hardware. Meanwhile, when it comes to the Steam Frame, similar guidance is provided, but it is designed to be used with a PC for streaming, and its integrated standalone hardware is capable of playing games.
“While Steam Frame is primarily designed for high quality game streaming from a PC, it’s also a full PC running SteamOS, with standalone capabilities: games can be run entirely on the headset, not connected to anything.”
– Valve
Valve has already begun posting its testing results for games on either hardware and has updated its partner dashboard with the results. The updated dashboard now includes tabs for the Steam Machine and also the Steam Frame (standalone mode).
Needless to say, there’s excitement building for Valve’s upcoming hardware releases, especially for its wireless VR headset, and it now looks like the wait is almost over.