SteamVR

What it is

SteamVR is Valve's software layer for virtual reality on PC, and the name of the VR section of the Steam store. As a runtime, it connects games with headsets and controllers, handles room setup and offers a home space. It supports the OpenXR standard, so games can run on headsets from many brands. As a store, it has the largest PC VR catalog, including Half-Life: Alyx and many simulation, racing and social titles.

Headsets that use it

It is the native platform for the Valve Steam Frame, which installs games from Steam by itself, and for base-station headsets such as the Valve Index, Bigscreen Beyond 2 and Bigscreen Beyond 2e. Many other headsets connect to it from a PC. Quest headsets do so through Link, Air Link or Steam Link, PICO headsets through PICO Connect, the HTC VIVE Focus Vision through VIVE streaming, and PlayStation VR2 through Sony's PC adapter.

Buying and installing

Games are bought on the Steam website, in the Steam desktop app or inside VR, and they are tied to your Steam account. On a PC, they install to the computer and stream or display to the headset. On Steam Frame, they install to the headset itself or stream from a PC.

Notable traits

Steam's refund policy, regular sales and user reviews apply to VR games as well. Mod support through Steam Workshop is common. Because SteamVR runs on the PC, graphics quality depends on your graphics card and can go well beyond what standalone headsets render.