The newly announced Steam Frame VR headset will not only run games created for the Windows operating system. Valve will also support and encourage developers to port their Android apps to Steam.
The newly announced Steam Frame VR headset will not only run games created for the Windows operating system. Valve will also support and encourage developers to port their Android apps to Steam.
«From a user’s perspective, we’d rather they didn’t even think about it, but just had their games on Steam, downloaded them, and hit play,» Valve engineer Jeremy Celan told The Verge.
On November 12, Valve announced a new series of Steam Hardware gadgets, which included three new products: the second attempt to create a standardized PC in the spirit of the Steam Machine console, the second generation of the next-generation Steam Controller gamepad, and the next-generation Steam Frame standalone virtual reality headset.
Valve says the Steam Frame can use the same Android APKs that developers already use to port their apps to Android-based phones and VR headsets like the Meta Quest. The company is also launching a Steam Frame developer kit to help developers get their hands on the hardware.
Valve is likely hoping to attract game developers specifically to Meta VR, rather than just any Android apps you might find on tablets or phones. «These are real VR developers who want to publish their VR content, and they’re porting mobile VR games because they’re already familiar with how to create those APKs. Now they can freely port them to Steam, and they’ll just run on that device,» says Celan.
He believes that performance should be excellent because the code runs natively. While Valve’s SteamOS is not Android and requires the use of the Proton compatibility layer for apps to function properly, the Arm code will run on an Arm processor without porting.
The Verge believes that Valve’s long-term plans are not limited to Android-based VR games for the Steam Frame. Given that Google will soon be forced to open up Android to alternative app stores, Steam will soon be able to easily sell games on phones, as its competitor Epic Games is trying to do.
Earlier, Google and Epic Games filed a joint plan in San Francisco federal court that should end their antitrust litigation and formally enshrine new rules for Android and Google Play.
