Steam has expanded support of its Steam Link software to numerous Pico VR headsets and the HTC Vive Focus Vision.
Steam Link lets VR headsets wirelessly stream PC VR games from a computer on the same local network. And while Pico already has its own software for the job, this move gives headset owners more back-end options. The Meta Quest family has had Steam Link since November 2023.
As Steam announced on its community pages, the Pico 4 Ultra, Pico 4, Pico Neo 3 are now supported alongside the HTC Vivo Focus Vision, while support for HTC Vive XR Elite is planned for later this year.
This is part of a major opening-up of Steam Link. Steam says it is “an equally important step toward our continued goal of making PC VR accessible to as many users as possible.”
“The next steps will include a SteamVR Beta update that adds a Steam Link APK for other hardware manufacturers to validate Steam Link support on their headsets.”
The timing of this expansion is likely no coincidence. This is the eve of one of the most significant changes to the VR and XR landscape in a while. Samsung is expected to launch its first Android XR headset in October, marking the birth of a fresh platform for VR headsets.
In theory, Android XR headsets should be able to get ports of existing Meta Quest software without too much trouble. Meta’s VR platform is already based on AOSP, the Android open source project. Meta Quest headsets are, broadly, Android devices already.
Samsung’s Android XR headset, also known as Project Moohan, could end up being one of the best to date for PC VR.
While Samsung is yet to fully unveil the headset’s specs and capabilities, it is expected to be a high-spec, high-resolution headset comparable with Apple’s Vision Pro.
But unlike that technical marvel, Samsung will reportedly make dedicated motion controllers for the headset, allowing for proper VR control.
