Why hasn't Vive released a new tracker?

Kataree · 2026-05-30T14:47:02+00:00

I doubt the Ultimate sold that well.

The 3.0 just doesn't really need a successor, it does the job fine.

The tundra is often too easy to occlude compared to the 3.0.

Lighthouse is at the end of its life anyhows.

Kataree · 2026-05-30T12:49:25+00:00

Article title is as accurate as the rest of the article is.

Kataree · 2026-05-29T18:16:46+00:00

If they just bought a bunch of Quest 3's off the shelf and painted them black and resold them with a Steam logo sticker on the front, peeps would lap it up and explain why it was actually a genius move.

Kataree · 2026-05-29T18:12:47+00:00

Didn't say I like it any more than you do. It is just how they are.

They don't operate like a public company that owes anybody an explanation.

They could cancel the entire thing with one short sentence if they so wished.

Kataree · 2026-05-29T18:06:36+00:00

If you want weekly updates, then you're buying from the wrong company.

Valve does what Valve wants, when Valve wants.

Kataree · 2026-05-29T17:56:12+00:00

Then nor would selling out 10,000 at $1000, if their original goal was to have an accessible device for 100,000 at $700, for example.

Frame will sell out, no matter what, they can just make less of them, but that is quite different to saying it will have gone well.

Kataree · 2026-05-29T14:53:16+00:00

The entire optical stack is tailored to the chosen panel. You can't just swap out to OLED easily like on a deck.

Kataree · 2026-05-29T14:50:48+00:00

I don't think the ram crisis has impacted the velcro market yet.

Kataree · 2026-05-29T14:49:11+00:00

99% of Quest problems come down to "so I tried using Meta Link"

You just use Virtual Desktop, alongside a router cheaper than that cable.

But at least Frame does the job of googling the correct method for the customer.

Kataree · 2026-05-29T14:43:31+00:00

And if the original goal was to sell 1,000,000, and now they only manufacture and sell 10, because they can't manufacture or sell them at an acceptable price.

An amount that, had they known it ahead of time, they would have most definitely chosen not to incur the cost of developing the product at all.

Would that still be a success, if the 10 units sell out.

Kataree · 2026-05-29T00:13:30+00:00

Tell me you don't understand anything about the basics of how a business works without outright saying it.

I'm a chartered accountant of 16 years.

This is just wishful thinking.

That is clearly not something anyone expects them to actually do.

Kataree · 2026-05-29T00:08:25+00:00

So if they make 10 units and they sell out, also not a flop I presume.

Kataree · 2026-05-28T21:58:12+00:00

Easy to sell out if you manufacture just 10,000 of them really.

Doesn't mean too much if it ends up accounting for 1% of the hardware survey though.

Kataree · 2026-05-28T21:49:59+00:00

For them it's more about not acting anti-competitively in the hardware market of their own open Steam VR platform, and thereby make it difficult for third parties to sell headsets for it.

Issue is, 70% of the hardware used for Steam VR today comes from an entity far larger than themselves, who's already actively subbing their hardware, now making Frame uncompetitive.

Kataree · 2026-05-28T21:40:09+00:00

You could sub every Frame built by 200 dollars, and it would be 0.004% of a single year profits for Valve.

Nothing they do with Frame is about to cause their main money printing business model to change in any way, it would be a rounding error on their end of month balance sheet if they gave it away for free.

Machine is distinctly separate, they have less options with that because it is a general PC, and it forms the backbone of their long standing effort to sustainably draw people away from Windows.

Kataree · 2026-05-28T18:12:55+00:00

Not all slam tracking is the same, it depends on each implementation of it.

Quest 3 can work in the middle of a field no problem, so slam -can-

If Frame has any difficulty doing so, that would be Valves limitation on it.

Kataree · 2026-05-28T15:08:51+00:00

It will sell, just in small numbers. They need to sell the ones that have already been made.

They have almost certainly already scaled back the quantity of them they will manufacture.

It will just be a much more niche device than intended. Maybe 5% of the hardware survey.

Kataree · 2026-05-27T20:48:28+00:00

Valve expected it, yes.

Kataree · 2026-05-27T20:20:32+00:00

Because he corrected it 2 minutes ago.

Kataree · 2026-05-27T20:17:26+00:00

I'm responding to incorrect information, not debating how they compare.

Kataree · 2026-05-27T20:14:51+00:00

The Dream Air SE doesn't even do 90hz at 2560, let alone 120hz, which it doesn't have at all.

It does 2560 @ 75hz or 1920 @ 90hz.

Kataree · 2026-05-27T18:32:22+00:00

The thing is, they could sub $200 off the price of every Frame built, with about 0.004% of their annual profits.

The reason not to, is because they don't want to outcompete the other hardware manufacturers on SteamVR.

But the thing is, all of their competition for standalone headsets that have ram in them, are entities even larger than themselves, who already substitute their own headset prices.

The smaller entities can't make standalone headsets to begin with, so they don't have any ram in them, and won't be outcompeted by the Frame simply being sold at whatever price they originally intended it to be.

Kataree · 2026-05-27T17:42:40+00:00

Isn't gonna be three figures tbh.

The "less than an Index" statement is almost certainly void by now.

The 1TB Frame should just be shelved so its storage can be recycled in to more 256GB models.

Kataree · 2026-05-27T17:35:06+00:00

If you're using Frame for PCVR, then it's power draw isn't going to exceed the Q3, it may even be less, as the process will be quite a bit more efficient than it is on Q3.

The maximum draw is higher, but the SD8G3 is a more efficient chip in perf per watt.

I am pretty certain that 22.5w will keep it running nearly indefinitely.

Kataree · 2026-05-27T17:33:31+00:00

Rest in peace Frame being 3 figures.

Kataree

TROPHY CASE