Valve is welcoming Android games into Steam

You tin deliberation of the just-announced Steam Frame arsenic a wireless VR headset for your PC, oregon a Steam Deck for your face. But different mode to deliberation astir it is that Valve is yet entering the mobile realm. The Frame doesn’t conscionable tally Windows games connected its Arm-based Qualcomm Snapdragon spot — Valve volition present enactment and promote developers to bring their Android apps to Steam arsenic well.

It’ll effort to marque immoderate of them first-class citizens, too, Valve technologist Jeremy Selan tells The Verge. “From the user’s perspective, our penchant is that they don’t adjacent person to deliberation astir it, they conscionable person their titles connected Steam, they download them and deed play.”

Valve says the Steam Frame tin usage the aforesaid Android APKs developers already usage to bring their apps to phones and Android-based VR headsets specified arsenic the Meta Quest — and it’s launching a Steam Frame developer kit programme to assistance enactment the hardware successful developers’ hands.

It sounds similar Valve is specifically hoping to pull immoderate of those Meta VR crippled developers, alternatively than conscionable immoderate benignant of Android app you mightiness find connected a tablet oregon phone. “They’re truly VR developers who privation to people their VR content, and they’re porting a mobile VR rubric wherever they’re already acquainted with however to marque those APKs,” says Selan. “They are present escaped to bring those to Steam, and they’ll conscionable enactment connected this device.”

In presumption of performance, Selan suggests it should beryllium fantabulous due to the fact that the codification is moving natively. While Valve’s SteamOS is not Android and needs to usage its Proton compatibility furniture to marque apps consciousness astatine home, the Arm codification volition tally connected an Arm processor without needing translation first.

When I inquire astir Android apps beyond games — and notation however I’d truly similar to spot things similar Discord dependable chat successful Steam, not conscionable Wallpaper Engine — Valve seems a small little sure. “We’ve ne'er disinvited radical from doing that,” says Valve’s Lawrence Yang. “We are a games institution and we are focused connected games, but similar you said, determination are a batch of things connected Steam that are tools, bundle similar Blender for instance.”

Selan chimes in, “We don’t person it rather moving to amusement you today, but our volition is to person affluent browser integration, truthful astatine immoderate constituent you’ll beryllium capable to bring up a browser, person floating windows, each of the multitasking environments you’d expect, truthful you could surely spell to immoderate website and person those apps present.

“I cognize there’s a quality betwixt that and what you asked, but we expect that volition span a batch of that gap.”

Will determination beryllium a mode to rapidly motorboat those web apps from Steam, and fto users crook them into buttons, perhaps? “That’s our hope. I don’t privation to committedness that for launch, but that’s our hope,” Selan says.

Valve likes to physique for the agelong haul, and I would beryllium amazed if its plans statesman and extremity astatine Android-based VR games for the Steam Frame. I deliberation this is much apt the extremity of the iceberg. For 1 thing, it’s looking similar Google volition soon beryllium forced to unfastened up Android to alternate app stores, truthful Steam mightiness soon beryllium capable to easy merchantability games connected phones conscionable similar its rival Epic has been trying to do.

In the meanwhile, Gamers Nexus reports that you’ll besides beryllium capable to sideload Android APKs onto the Steam Frame, too.

But Valve’s Pierre-Loup Griffais besides hints that there’s imaginable successful bringing SteamOS to different devices with Arm chips, astatine slightest someday. He tells maine helium thinks the Steam Frame paves the mode for SteamOS to enactment connected “a wider assortment of Arm devices,” including laptops, and that Arm evidently has “a batch of potential” successful aboriginal handhelds.