DF Direct Q+A: Hands-On With Steam Frame, Half-Life Alyx Standalone + More

Richard Leadbetter (0:02)

Hello there, and a warm welcome to the latest edition of the Digital Foundry Direct Q&A show. You have questions, we hope to have some kind of answers for you. Joining me on the panel this week, first of all, probably his last direct appearance for a couple of weeks, John Miniman. Hello.

John Miniman (0:19)

Yeah, that's right, Rich. I'll be away for a while, so not here, and also Audie and Mark and Corey, you're doing a DF Direct, sorry, not DF Direct, but DF Reader Super Show, while I'm away.

I'm curious to see what they come up with. I've heard rumors that it might be a topic that you're not going to love.

Richard Leadbetter (0:39)

But I've heard those rumors.

John Miniman (0:41)

I think the audience might love it, but you probably won't love it.

Richard Leadbetter (0:45)

Okay. That sounds good, doesn't it?

Also joining us, Oliver Mackenzie. Hello.

Oliver Mackenzie (0:52)

Yes, Rich. For good or for bad, you're stuck with me for the next little bit. I'm not going away. But yeah, it should be a fun episode today.

Richard Leadbetter (1:01)

Okay. Yes.

Well, I guess we should just crack on with the content that we've got for you. Our first topic isn't exactly a question as such, but we did miss out on the Steam Frame embargo for various reasons. But here we are. We did receive an email from the Steam Frame Unit. We have spoken to Valve about the Steam Frame. I am going to take it off now because it is very, very disconcerting when you're not actually in a VR experience.

So the reviews are in. I'm curious going to you first, John, what you make of the various feedback that Valve has had to this because it's an interesting device in very interesting times. Certainly, the price point has, well, I don't think at this point, any price point would surprise anybody, but north of $1,000, that is tricky in a world where the Quest 3 is half the price. I guess the whole concept of launching a VR device right now, kind of crazy, but that's the way they roll. I'm curious about your take on it.

John Miniman (2:04)

So that is an interesting thing and it's a very Valve move, and this is one of the reasons I like Valve. They just kind of do their thing. They do what they want to do, and the success of Steam has actually allowed them to pursue projects like this, I would say, in a way that a lot of other companies might not be able to.

But obviously the nature of the component shortage has had an impact on this and the price is not super cheap, but it's also, I guess, not dissimilar to the original index, I believe, was similarly priced. Is that right, Rich? I can't remember the exact price.

Richard Leadbetter (2:39)

It was very, very expensive back in the day, but it was a huge, it was a huge endeavor, wasn't it? You had those light house boxes. That's true. And stuff like that. And yeah, I mean, this is like a far more refined device on every level.

Yeah, yeah, curious though about the whole concept of launching a machine like this though.

John Miniman (3:01)

Yeah, absolutely. And so what's interesting though about VR is that it's sort of found itself into its little niche, where it's able to, games releasing on VR are largely able to actually make money. From what I understand, I've spoken with a lot of developers and publishers in the VR space now. And the feeling I get is that despite the low audience numbers, the people that are into VR are into VR. And the game budgets are kept in check in a way that allows them to still be viable. And I think that's what's really important here.

Not every game is going to make back their money, but a lot of these VR games are, they're still reasonable in terms of how much they cost to make. And because you have this dedicated audience, they've kind of continued to be able to do okay. And Valve, of course, itself is kind of supporting the VR ecosystem. And as they told me when I spoke to them about Half-Life Alyx on the Steam Frame, the original goal of Half-Life Alyx was just to make the most ridiculous, like zero-compromise VR experience that they could. And it was not just about the success of the game, but VR as a whole. And that's also kind of the message I got with importing Half-Life Alyx to the Steam Frame, which we'll talk about. But it's like the steps and the process of doing this ended up benefiting the hardware as well in terms of developing the APIs, the drivers and everything else. So we're kind of in a situation where it doesn't seem like a big mainstream thing. And I don't think it is, but it might be enough. And Steam VR is a really nice ecosystem. It's a great place for VR content.