SavinDWhales
Steam HardwareThe steam hardware feed just published news about the reservation queue:
We launched Steam Frame last month, and with the reservation queues and waitlist in place we wanted to give folks a better idea of when they can expect to see an email with the option to purchase.
...
If you have a reservation You can now check on your expected order window by going directly to the Steam Frame product page while logged in to your Steam account. Once there, you'll see confirmation that you'll receive your order email either by December, or in 2027. Those in the 2027 camp will receive further (more detailed) information on their expected order timing by January.
I don't know if they're rolling it out differently in different regions, but I cannot see it right now and I am in the reservation queue for Europe/Germany.
😐
Edit: Now it's telling me that I'm in the 2027 group. Oh well.
I genuinely don't understand the distinction between the reservation queue and wait list. I was led to believe that the reservation queue meant "there's a specific physical device reserved in your name that will be made available for you to purchase shortly". It seems instead to have meant "you'll be able to buy one when we have one available and it's your turn", which seems indistinguishable from being on the waiting list?
My understanding is that the reservation queue is a mix of "we have a specific physical unit assigned to your name" and "we have a manufacturing order placed, of which one of the units is assigned to you". Whereas waitlist is more "we haven't even placed the order yet to manufacture your unit, so we can't guarantee it will even get made".
So the distinction is more about the likelihood of ever getting one.
I see. Thanks for your reply and for sharing your understanding! If that's the case, I believe that Valve could have done a much better job messaging and managing expectations. As things stand, it seems reasonable that people in the reservation queue would have expected to be able to purchase a unit in the near-term (not 4-6 months (or more?) in the future). What an unnecessary buzzkill. :-/
"Between now and Jan 31, 2027" for me. Still a pretty broad window. I'm going to assume the latter date is what's expected if nobody in front of me cancels, so I probably won't be getting it this year.
So reservations have to wait until 2027? Damn. I'm still on the wait list. I'll probably not get a chance to get one before 2027H2.
Sad to be in 2027 group, but at least I won't get my hopes up every time I see the new email notification.
Me too, I just hope the price won't go up before I can place my order.
It's not showing anything for me either, also Germany.
Edit: Oh wait, this is for the Reservation Queue, not the waitlist. Wtf. Their stock must be ridiculously low. I somehow thought that reservation queue meant getting it within the first few weeks.
I'm in Germany I it is showing for me directly under the "Reservierung stornieren" Button:
Für Sie voraussichtlich bestellbar: Zwischen jetzt und 30.Dezember.2026
I'll have to wait until '27. Good thing I bought the color camera early! That's already sitting on my desk...
Why even bother with the whole waitlist/reservation thing in the first place?
My order availability is 2027, which makes having a "reservation" fucking meaningless.
"Waitlist" feels redundant with these timelines. I wonder what their plan was, really: "Let's create this game-changing headset, but only manufacture and sell a couple thousand of it. Yeah, that'll change the whole market for VR!"
I'm sure they completely decided on this course and this isn't because of the massive data-center driven hardware shortage.
Yeah, yeah, it's all the RAM price's fault. I don't buy it. Valve sets the price for the headset and they could and should should have set it to fit demand. What's the point of selling it at production cost if you cannot manufacture sufficient quantities? At a higher price, they could've gotten more RAM and reduced demand. Now the scalpers do the real price discovery for them, benefitting noone. I would've expected Valve of all companies to understand this.
Why even bother with the whole waitlist/reservation thing in the first place?
Disincentivize scalpers.
How does that work? They already enforce one unit per household.
Shuffling the order queue means that even ordering one with a scripted bot is senseless because it's not first come, first serve.
Not happy myself that I'm in the 2027 group but maybe some hero ports SteamOS to the Quest 3, then I could cancel my order and save money. I genuinely want one mainly as an unencumbered VLC player with a giant virtual screen.
I was put on the waitlist and until today I still had a little bit of hope I'd be able to purchase one this year. Haha, nope. I'll just resign myself to probably never getting one at this point.
At this rate there's a realistic chance to get a used one at a reasonable price before getting a new one from the waitlist. As much as I like Valve I have to say they really dropped the ball on this one. Why even bother creating a market-changing device when you only produce it in minuscule numbers. Now they have neither an egg nor a hen.
People went from being on waitlist to being on reservation for Steam Machine recently, and people got Steam Controllers earlier than estimated time. Steam might be choosing to be more conservative on their estimates so still hope.
Or people with the ability to buy chose not to
Was offered in the first batch. Had to decline at that price. Might’ve done it if I didn’t already have vr capability.
I declined too, as I expected to wait longer (like with the steam machine). Couldn't swallow spending so much in a short timeframe, thought i'd have more time.
Your estimated order availability: Between now and December 30, 2026
Christmas present, yay?
\2027. welp. I will be on another continent for most of that year. I guess I'll wait for 2028 when I'm back.
If you're lucky, there will be an OLED version until then.
Where is it supposed to say if you’re getting an email before 2027? I don’t see anything about an estimate anywhere
Damn, I'm in the 2027 group. At least most of bugs will be worked out by then hopefully.
Now I can see that I'm in the 2027 group as well.
🤜🤛
Welp. I guess "this year" is better than 2027. Thank you for the heads up.
And thank you for linking to the source and not some third party republishing the information with 1000 words of unnecessary context and ads.
Europe is always screwed when it comes to supply 🥀🥀🥀
