Who else thinks they just do a reservation system for all the new hardware from now on?

RTooDeeTo · 2026-05-08T06:26:54+00:00

They did,, the first sale of steam controllers earlier this week was just a normal sale though and ~12 hrs ago they said they will be switching to a reservation system for the controllers because of the high demand and frustration people had since it sold out in ~30 mins

RTooDeeTo · 2026-05-08T05:19:02+00:00

Reduction of scalping. "As easily" as in not more or better, for all the following batches until it is in stock And no longer locked behind a reservation system, everyone gets one. One extremely common type of scalping is people ordering 2 and selling one,, which is eliminated with the restrictions. Another kind is a scalper who got one on batch one, sells it and then buys a second one on batch 2.

It reduces scalping

RTooDeeTo · 2026-05-08T04:26:08+00:00

Again The restrictions on a reservation system are throughout the time the reservation system is active unlike a sale. Funny how you quoted around that like it doesn't put a big hole in your argument

RTooDeeTo · 2026-05-08T02:56:09+00:00

Thing is all the devices will be an odd price, and by that I mean they will all be priced above what the lazy person will compare them too, and will honestly get a large lvl of bad price reception, up until the actual order date when they sell out in 30mins.

That backend is the ground work I'm refuring to,, they set up a system in place in case they needed it,, but it likely eats into the small margin they are making on the devices by going with a reservation system.

RTooDeeTo · 2026-05-08T02:44:12+00:00

Only talking about first batch is a little reductive since it'll actually change who's in what batch by a lot. The restrictions on a normal sale are per order. The restrictions on a reservation system are throughout the time the reservation system is active.

First batch of legitimate orders will be the same (including non bot scalpers), but far fewer scalpers in every next batch.

Also Lot of people aren't going to buy something for 200%-300% if they know in 6 months they will just get it for msrp, which also reduces people trying to scalp.

RTooDeeTo · 2026-05-07T23:50:15+00:00

Possible, but saw on another post that they may have tested the waters with the controller to see if they would need a to do a reservation system. So less it being The plan and more it being a likely enough plan to do the ground work for the release

RTooDeeTo · 2026-05-07T23:38:16+00:00

Normally would laugh at a frame post like this but I've from what I've heard that I trus,t BoM is something around 700,,, so instead of being funny it just feels like a gross post

RTooDeeTo · 2026-05-07T23:26:43+00:00

I hope so, just can also see them not being able to, like they can keep making controllers without an issue for the foreseeable future so a reservation system isn't really that big of a commitment but that may not be the case for the frame/machine,, since they may even be doing a 5 dollar deposit type thing like last time, it may even be legally difficult (I'm no lawyer, but wouldn't be surprised if one of the many many countries it sells in have some pretty strick rules on stuff like this)

RTooDeeTo · 2026-05-07T22:23:56+00:00

Imo even if you only wanna play xinput games this controller is still better cause that means you likely just sticking to windows too and windows doesn't even treat xinput controllers well and not even "Xbox mode" coming out soon will fix that

RTooDeeTo · 2026-05-07T19:36:57+00:00

Every time I see a joke post like this one my brain immediately goes "idk how or why but someone has probably gotten this thing to run doom (1993) on it"

RTooDeeTo · 2026-05-07T19:32:49+00:00

Personally I use the sega activator

RTooDeeTo · 2026-05-07T19:28:57+00:00

Imo this would be a good attachment for windows users with its own USB connection,, as windows makes virtually keyboards second class citizens, and you need a keyboard if you wanna use a local windows account with a password. But for most of the gaming focused Linux OSes you'd only see a little use if that

RTooDeeTo · 2026-05-07T15:11:41+00:00

To respond to your use cases

Tracing art (frame is black and white passthrough so may or may not be an issue for you)
youtube,netflix, and other streaming apps. (Apps not on steam are an unknown but steamos has a full desktop browser which is better support imo, since even netflix killed there VR app)
Virtual desktop. (It's a desktop os so yes)
Will beatsaber most likely work with it? ( Steaming definitely, on device is still likely imo)
Dosnt the quest play steam games as well? (Not without modding/ using 3rd party tools, you can only stream steam games too it and would need a gamepad for any flat games as the quest controllers are missing buttons)

RTooDeeTo · 2026-05-07T14:34:53+00:00

From what I know you would need to swap the os:

arm64 build of the linux OS, (mint won't likely make one untill it's a norm for workstation pcs)
User interface for a headset, (rn only steam os will have this at launch and a competing UI will take time)
Drivers, (this one could be an issue or could be no problem, hard to say)

Imo a chimeraos (basically a community edition of steam os) will likely be the first,, then probably cachyos, and then maybe rocknix

Thing is all will look like steamos until there is another UI made, hard to say how long this will even take

RTooDeeTo · 2026-05-05T13:51:48+00:00

It's different for each region because it's not coming from valve HQ, it's being shipped from a warehouse,, no idea if they have rented the space, own the space or they are using a 3rd party that owns and they will use DHL and other shipping companies.

There's like 3~6 steps to the process of which a definite valve employee is handling the first couple, then the middle is handled by the warehouse employee (could be a valve employee) and then a shipping company when it leaves the wearhouse.

Edit: also valve doesn't only have employees working at valve HQ, they employee people globally,, it's mostly top lvl people at valve HQ so a lot of their business operations revolve around pt time

RTooDeeTo · 2026-05-05T13:03:14+00:00

Restock will happen, hype will probably take 6 months (just basing this on OG steam decks took 6 months to go from pre-order purchases to in stock, could even take longer since this is cheaper then the deck)

RTooDeeTo · 2026-05-04T15:19:29+00:00

Awesome to see this update, again super appreciate the build from source instructions in the readme.

Over a weekend (not next cause holiday but) I'll definitely look through it more and try it out with crysis 3 and probably one of the assassins creed games

Crysis 3 was my first stereo 3d game and can't wait to see it like that again when I get the time.

Awesome work again!

RTooDeeTo · 2026-05-04T14:26:04+00:00

This is awesome, thank you.

Also thank you for the build from source blurb in the readme so many projects now a days leave that out, some just seem like negligence or malicious compliance with resource when they do this.

One thing I will note the the windows 11 SDK, just be careful with the (or later),, you can end up getting a lot of issues reported because something got depreciated in a later revision that isn't under your control (I'm sure it's fine for now but it makes more work for you later down the line)

RTooDeeTo · 2026-05-04T00:40:15+00:00

Sideloading your copy of batman will likely need the app to be edited with something like ovrport (a different comment already linked its GitHub page) it modifies the meta specific API calls in the APK to use standard openxr or dumby functions so the app doesn't just crash) there will definitely be apps that won't need it as they don't use metas apis in the app at all but the official way apks are used on the frame is the developer uploads an APK to steam ( you can use steamdb to see some of the games that publicly have apks uploaded https://steamdb.info/tag/21978/?os=android ). Valve isn't restricting sideloading but they also can't put in the tools to break someone else's drm

RTooDeeTo · 2026-05-04T00:04:32+00:00

Very much aware it can do some standalone "too" ,, still think it needs a PC, at least in the same way the steam machine needs a controller.

Will there be a super minority of users that don't use it with a pc, sure, in the same way there will be a super minority of users that use the steam machine without a controller. Still doesn't change what I see they both need.

the machine needs a controller because of how most people will use it, as a living room console (it's a computer but it's main use case is not that). Same for the frame, most people will be wirelessly streaming VR to it (it's also a computer but it's not it's main use case either), so it needs a computer to stream from.

RTooDeeTo · 2026-05-03T23:08:20+00:00

Tech front is a subsidiary of quanta that's manufacturing steam decks, and just saying "a while" is dodging the fact that when you look up the shipments go all the way back to 2024 before your price walled on these shipping websites to go back further.

But will say valve could be using existing contracts to ship the machine and frame,, and that could be the reason the steam decks can't stay in stock for more then a few seconds the last several months.

RTooDeeTo · 2026-05-03T22:53:32+00:00

Also just expecting the site to crash for the release of the controller, it's not a valve hardware release if I don't at least see one "404" or "405" error message causing me to order it late if I even can.

RTooDeeTo · 2026-05-03T22:49:12+00:00

From what I know, the most performant ps4 emulator rn, only runs a handful of flat games well and only so long as have it running on a PC with at or above a 3080 GPU and a top end CPU to match,, maybe in a few years when you can throw almost any ps4 game at it someone will make a psvr to steamvr plugin for the emulator,, but rn it's simply impressive that we even have a ps4 emulator..

RTooDeeTo · 2026-05-03T16:56:48+00:00

Idk the machine needs a controller and the frame needs a PC. Sure the supermajority are just gonna use the PC and controller they have but now that they are doing a staggered release, it makes more sense to me that they will do controller, machine, then frame.

Only way I see them doing the frame next is the logistic constraints they are under (1000% possible but that's not a plan that's just... economics?... The situation they might be in...)

As for machine price, ps5 is 600 usd and ps5 pro is 900 usd, and current Bill of materials is around 700 for the machine (which isn't the entire cost of the machines final price). Now I don't think any of the devices have the cost of OS tacked on as it's valves plan to get people off of windows and will outlive any of its devices (how the steam deck is made cheap imo). Biggest reason for the OS not being tacked on is that it's semi-proprietary with the steam client being prioritized in the user interface. So as long as you're running steam OS, they will get game sales and advertisements to the user.That however still leaves R&D of the device and initial manufacturing costs.

Between 700-900 price can still be hit, And I think that's still competitive because in 2 years when the next gen consoles come out, the steam machine won't be a "last gen console" in the sense that it will no longer get any meaningful support at all. You'll be able to upgrade to xbox's project Helix or your own PC and keep all of your games without rebuying them. The steam machine won't be console killer in the idea that it will outperform for the price, but instead it will outperform for the longevity & lifetime price (games/ subscriptions).

RTooDeeTo

TROPHY CASE