Josh Hudman, an engineer on the Steam Frame team at Valve, told the international media outlet Rock Paper Shotgun that the company decided not to lower the specs to reduce the price, even amid a global parts shortage.
Valve’s wireless VR headset
The Steam Frame is a wireless VR headset released by Valve on September 15. It allows users to play not only VR-compatible games but also non-VR games, and supports standalone play.
In Japan, it is sold by KOMODO, and both the 256GB and 1TB models are currently available at KOMODO STATION. As of the time of writing (around 9:30 PM on September 15), both models are listed as sold out.
Prioritized specs without lowering the price
In an interview with the international media outletRock Paper Shotgun, Steam Frame engineer Josh Hudman revealed that the global component shortage didn’t occur until quite late in the project.
While acknowledging that issues with memory and storage had disrupted their plans, the company reportedly determined that changing the specifications would not be an appropriate product decision.Furthermore, he stated that the development team at the time was satisfied with the quality of the product as it stood and felt confident they could deliver the experience users desired; therefore, changing the specifications to lower the specs would have meant the product no longer aligned with what they intended to offer.
The article also quotes Pierre-Loup Griffais, who works on SteamOS, as saying, “What we consider most important is the experience users will have with this product.”
Steam Frame is currently available for purchase atKOMODO STATION.
