The 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 didn’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.
😐
Hmmm I might just join the waitlist now, then. Because I wanted to give myself a few months to think it over, anyway.
This news seems to suggest that the wait list might take a very long time (many months, possibly more than a year) to service?
I’m in the 2027 gang, damn. Oh well, on the bright side I basically have an extra 1k disposable now.
What I don’t understand is why Valve didn’t share this information from the beginning. Their communication led to believe that everyone who landed into the reservation queue would receive theirs within weeks, or within 1-2 months at most. Making us first wait almost a month only to be like, ‘btw, you’re not getting yours until next year’ is a really shitty way to treat your customers.
That was also my understanding. Having people wait for months on the reservation queue makes it meaningless vs the waiting list. How little stock did they actually have I wonder.
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.
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.
I’d gotten the email to order one, but I was out of the country…
Steam support said they couldn’t delay shipment or give me 2 extra days to order so I’d be back when it was delivered…
So I got kicked all the way to the end of the waitlist Kinda killed my excitement, now
deleted by creator
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
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.
And yet there are still scalpers. All it did was stop legit buyers from having a chance.
I have been against this stupid ass lottery since day 1.
I was able to get every single valve hardware on day 1 prior to the lottery. This is first time I didn’t get valve hardware at launch.
What would recommend when demand is higher than supply? In this scenario usually some group needs to wait.
Valve definitely dropped the ball on communication, but there is a real distinction between the lists.
The reservation list likely ties to guaranteed inventory. This would cover everything from warehouse stock to parts awaiting manufacturing and/or assembly, RAM being the probable bottleneck. As long as a full bill of materials is confirmed and finalized, Valve would consider those allocatable units.
The waitlist would then be all demand beyond that, and since Valve might not have RAM or storage obtained for them, those people might see a price increase.
I’d argue it’s more than just dropping the ball.
I received an email to say I have a Frame reserved. To me that means that I will soon be given the option to buy one, not some time next year.
They should’ve only reserve listed as many customers as they have actual inventory for, anything else is misleading. I’ve even seen people commenting that they’ve been moved from the wait list to the reserve list when it’s obvious Valve don’t have the inventory to meet demand.
Well, I think the reserve list is still actual inventory and that the wait list moving is still inventory getting allocated. If you ordered a cake from me and I had all the needed ingredients in the back, I wouldn’t think twice about saying, “Okay, we have a cake reserved for you.” That’s just how I’ve always thought the word worked.
That said, I do have the 'tism, and I don’t have prior experience with making product reservations shaping my expectations.
I get it but with your analogy, if you had all the ingredients and told me you’d get back to me at the start of next year with further information about when I might be able to expect my reserved cake, I’d be pretty unhappy.
Europe is always screwed when it comes to supply 🥀🥀🥀
deleted by creator
haha yes. Your unit disproves it completely
deleted by creator
Yeah it stems from misreading my comment. Never said Europe didn’t get any units
deleted by creator
Lol, why are you so mad? What are you even trying to say? Looks like you misread my comment AND Valve from the looks of it
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.
🤜🤛
Your estimated order availability: Between now and December 30, 2026
Christmas present, yay?
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 somehow thought that reservation queue meant getting it within the first few weeks.
Same here! It seems to me the wording for the reservation queue description naturally gave this impression. I think Valve could have done a much better job with messaging…
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…
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.
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.
I still have the same “We will email you if a unit becomes available” :( 2029 I guess
Where is it supposed to say if you’re getting an email before 2027? I don’t see anything about an estimate anywhere
Mine doesn’t have a year specified.
I believe this is specifically for the reservation queue (not the waiting list). Sorry it’s not better news…
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.
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.
