In March 2019, Valve surprised the VR industry with the tease of ‘Index’, its first self-made VR headset. Index would go on to launch later in May 2019 and be seen as the enthusiasts’ choice in PC VR headsets for many years to come. Unbeknownst to the world, by the time Index was released, the company had already been working on aspects of what would become its second VR headset, Steam Frame. But Frame’s development wouldn’t conclude for another six years.

During a visit to Valve’s headquarters, engineers who worked on both Index and Frame told me that development of some of Frame’s core aspects began at least as far back as 2019, even before Index was revealed to the world.

“We actually started this in the middle of [developing] Index. Yeah, so Index shipped in [early 2019]. Yeah, we were we were already starting to work on the very beginnings of [Frame] a little before that.”

Specifically, the team recalls that the headset’s pancake optics were already in development before Index shipped.

The optics were all designed here [at Valve]. We started it, like I said, right around about the middle of [building Index], and then after we shipped Index we focused really hard on [the new optics]. […]

I think the challenge [with great optics] has always been about how can we do it in a way that’s affordable and not heavy with glass elements and all that stuff.

So it was a really hard, and I think we’ve definitely benefited from the industry wanting to make pancake optics work because there was a lot of work that needed to go into making these manufacturable.

To really understand how it would take another six years before Frame’s announcement, it’s important to understand how work at Valve differs from other companies. While many companies create goals to release specific products on specific timelines, Valve has a much more iterative, ‘release it when it’s done’ mentality. During my visit, a member of the Frame development team explained:

[An] interesting thing about our development process and timeline is we try to work on hardware [at Valve] the same way that we work on software.

We have game teams that have learned how to use play testing really well and how to iterate really well and how to form cross-disciplinary teams that are really productive at just finding the things that are really fun and valuable.

So a lot of the processes [that led to Frame] started before we even shipped Index; we didn’t have an end goal in mind. We’re just like, ‘we think this [idea] is gonna be good. Let’s test it.’ […]

And we just kind of kept going and testing it with people, play-testing our ideas, trying different things and different combinations until […] at some point we’re like, ‘okay, this is doing everything we think that it needs to do. This will make our customers happy. This is a great companion to Steam.’ […]

And only when we reach that point—when we’re confident that we’ve tested our goals and our assumptions—that we’re like, ‘okay, let’s get on the shipping timeline.’

We really only wanna ship something when it’s ready.

If you’ve ever heard someone mention ‘Valve Time’, this is it in a nutshell.

In speaking to the Frame team, I got the sense that most of them were serious VR users themselves, and the features and design of Frame were driven heavily by what they themselves—not some abstract ‘addressable audience’—wanted in a headset. They wanted the headset to be able to play their entire Steam library, they wanted it to be portable and comfortable, and they wanted it to be moddable.

I asked if their goal with Steam Frame was to make a standalone headset from the outset. A member of the team told me they were more focused on the user experience they wanted, which ultimately led them to the standalone form-factor to reduce the friction of setup.

I don’t think we necessarily said, ‘let’s make a standalone device.’ I think it really came down to, we all just wanted to play the things we wanted to play wherever we wanted to play.

And whether that’s streaming or whether that’s running stuff locally, it was really about the experience we were after and like what made this something [we] wanted to use. […]

We’re really excited about what [the power of a full PC] provides, but we also want to not have to set up things [like tracking beacons] and we want to be able to pause [our games] and walk away [to easily resume them later].

Now Frame is finally out in the open. Will it be worth the wait? We’ll find out once it ships in early 2026.

As we celebrate our tenth anniversary, we at Pimax are excited to introduce SuperOpen, a long-term initiative that opens our technology to the global community and invites developers, creators, and enthusiasts to help shape the next era of virtual reality.

Industry Direct by Pimax

Industry Direct is our program for sponsors who want to speak directly to the Road to VR newsletter audience. Industry Direct posts are written by sponsors with no involvement from the Road to VR editorial team and do not appear in our front-page editorial feed. Industry Direct sponsors help make Road to VR possible.

SuperOpen is not a new product and it is not a marketing slogan. It is a commitment to openness and a belief that VR hardware should evolve in a more flexible and sustainable way. Over the past decade, the VR industry has made significant progress, but it has also been limited by closed ecosystems and hardware that becomes outdated too quickly. We believe it is time for a different approach.

Why We Created SuperOpen

For years, VR users have been asked to replace entire headsets every time a major improvement arrives. Optics change, displays improve, cooling advances, and yet the entire device must be replaced. This is wasteful and does not reflect how modern technology should grow.

Crystal Super was built on a different idea. Instead of a device that stays fixed, it is a platform that can evolve. Its optical engine, front shell, facial interface, and other modules can be changed as new innovations appear. This makes the headset something you can refine, not something you discard.

Now that Crystal Super is widely available and our production is stable across the world, this is the right moment to open the platform and bring the community into the process.

Opening Our Technology to the World

Pimax has always believed that true innovation comes from sharing. SuperOpen marks the first release of our development resources, and we’ll continue to update and expand them over time.

Developers can now access:

• The Platform SDK
• The XR SDK
• The Driver SDK
• The Hardware Development Kit
• Full Crystal Super 3D models and schematics

These resources are available to help anyone build new ideas directly on top of the Crystal Super platform. This is only the starting point. We will continue to expand the SDKs based on what the community builds.

As our founder Robin Weng says: “Innovation grows faster when people build together.”

Exploring New Hardware Ideas Together

SuperOpen also gives us the chance to explore bold new module concepts hand in hand with the community. We are currently evaluating several experimental ideas that show how far an open headset platform can go:

• An E Ink optical engine for comfortable reading
• A seventy PPD clarity module for cinematic viewing
• A liquid cooling system for long sessions
• A facial tracking front shell for expressive avatars
• A high fidelity microphone module for clear spatial voice
• Specialized Pilot and Racer editions for simulation fans

Some of these concepts are early studies, and others are already in engineering testing, but all of them will grow through community involvement. Through SuperOpen, we will also provide Crystal Super units, HDKs, and SDKs to selected developers who want to explore these concepts with us.

Building a Living VR Ecosystem

SuperOpen marks an important milestone for our tenth year. More than anything, it represents a shift from building product generations to supporting a platform that keeps evolving. When hardware and software grow together with the community, we extend product life, reduce waste, and encourage meaningful innovation.

To support this, we have opened: The SuperOpen Developer Discord

Once inside, developers and creators can share ideas, collaborate on modules, receive feedback from Pimax engineering teams, and access support across development, supply chain, and promotion. SuperOpen is not only a place to discuss ideas. It is a space designed to help those ideas turn into real hardware and real experiences.

Shaping the Next Ten Years of VR Together

The launch of Crystal Super is not the finish line for us. It is the beginning of a platform that will continue to grow year after year. SuperOpen reflects our belief that openness and collaboration are the most powerful forces in VR today.

To everyone who has supported Pimax over the past decade, and to everyone who will join us now, thank you. We invite developers, creators, engineers, and VR enthusiasts to help define what the next ten years of virtual reality will look like.

Let us shape the future of VR together.

PSVR 2’s Black Friday sale is here to stay until December 19th. The headset has dropped to its lowest price yet for the 2025 holiday deal season.

Best PSVR 2 Black Friday 2025 Sale: Amazon – $300

Deal Includes:

• PSVR 2 headset and controllers
• Horizon Call of the Mountain game ($60 value)

Deal Context:

Deal Window

PSVR 2 Black Friday Game Sales

The official PlayStation Store is running a Black Friday game sale with up to 75% off PSVR 2 games.

Our number one pick from the list is Metro Awakening (2024) which is being sold for just $24 (a 40% discount).