Valve has announced that its new wireless VR headset, the Steam Frame, will support Android games.
In an interview with Edge (Thank you, Game developer), Valve said it is working to ensure that players “don't even have to think” about whether a game is native to Steam or Android, saying that “from a user perspective, we prefer that […] they just have their games on Steam, they download them and press the “Play” button.
This is because Steam Frame can use the same Android APKs that developers already use to bring mobile games to Android devices like Meta Quest. Valve is even launching a Steam Frame developer program to support this, saying that while SteamOS is different from Android, it will still be able to run Android apps on its Arm-based Qualcomm Snapdragon chip without the need for translation.
According to Valve engineer Jeremy Selan, this means that developers accustomed to developing for Meta Quest and Android phones are “already familiar with how to create these APK files” and “can now freely distribute these APK files.” [games] on Steam and they will just work on that device.”
Earlier today, Valve announced three new hardware products: New Steam Frame VR headset and controllers, new Steam controller and next generation Steam Machine.
All three products will ship in the same regions where Steam Decks are currently available to purchase – the US, Canada, UK, Europe and Australia – as well as regions covered by Komodo including Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong and Taiwan. Specific pricing and launch dates have yet to be determined.
