Valve considered making a new VR game for the Steam Frame, before tackling the "ludicrous" task of getting Half-Life: Alyx running standalone
Valve chose Half-Life: Alyx for Steam Frame’s launch to test standalone performance, leveraging existing assets rather than developing a new game.
Valve has historically paired new hardware with flagship games, such as Half-Life: Alyx for the Valve Index in 2019. For the Steam Frame, the company briefly considered creating a new VR title but ultimately opted to showcase Alyx running standalone. SteamOS developer Pierre-Loup Griffais explained that the focus shifted to ensuring the Steam catalogue functioned well on the Frame, highlighting its ability to run both VR and flat games in standalone mode or via PC VR streaming.
Robin Walker, a Valve programmer, noted that redeveloping Alyx for the Frame’s limited hardware provided critical insights into optimizing games for the headset. The process helped Valve address performance issues and refine software tradeoffs, with engineer Autumn Aston emphasizing the extensive bug fixes and improvements uncovered during development.
Walker revealed that the Frame’s standalone performance improvements for Alyx were later shared with other developers through the Steam Frame Verified program. This initiative mirrors Valve’s previous compatibility schemes for the Steam Deck and Steam Machine, offering developers direct assistance to enhance their games for the Frame’s standalone mode.
Ironically, Alyx’s developers initially deemed it impossible to run adequately on a Snapdragon smartphone CPU. Walker attributed the breakthrough to the Frame’s tracking technology and 16GB of RAM, which enabled standalone performance. The headset’s £889 price point partly reflects this memory capacity, which proved essential for running one of its standout titles.