While PC gaming has largely been dominated by systems running on x86 architecture, Valve is making a big bet on ARM-based systems. This bet can be seen with the recently-unveiled Steam Frame, which is a VR headset with its own ARM-based Snapdragon 8 gen 3 chip. In an interview with PCGamer, Valve engineer Jeremy Selan spoke about this, along with the fact that Steam will start featuring games supporting ARM architecture as well.
Selan has high hopes for ARM thanks to the core architecture being open source, which in turn allows anyone to run just about anything on it, provided it has been compiled with the target hardware in mind. This includes the ability to run SteamOS on ARM-based devices that might not already have the operating system installed.
“This is already fully open source, so you could download it and run SteamOS, now that we will be releasing SteamOS for ARM, you could have gaming on any ARM device,” said Selan. “This is the first one. We’re very excited about it.”’
When it comes to VR titles, it is worth noting that some of the most popular headsets out there are based on ARM, including Meta’s line-up of Rift headsets, which run on its own HorizonOS operating system, which is based on Android. According to Valve engineer Jeff Leinbaugh, the company has also been working on being able to run compatible games through the use of APK files – a file format for Android software.
“So we’re able to run ARM APKs on this device as well,” said Leinbaugh, who was followed up with Selan noting that: “So for partners and developers who have developed applications for other mobile VR, they’ll just work on this headset.” Further tying into this, Valve designer Lawrence Yang has also noted that Steam will start featuring APK-based software which can run on ARM devices.
This support for ARM-based hardware and APK software comes from the fact that Valve wants to invite more developers to Steam to sell their games. Selan also noted that, while some developers might be more comfortable with making software that targets ARM-based hardware, the company will also keep its doors open for developers who prefer to work on software targetting x86.
“We really want to try to welcome all developers to Steam, and if they’re most comfortable creating their software for a certain type of development, like ARM APKs, we want to make sure that’s compatible,” said Selan. “If they’d rather do x86 and PC, we’ll bring that to our system.”
It is worth noting that, while most gaming PCs out there run on x86 architecture, Steam is already also available on ARM-based devices in the form of Apple’s computers that run on its own custom Apple Silicon chips. However, Windows-based PCs with ARM chips don’t yet support running Steam natively.
For more details about the ARM-based VR headset Steam Frame, check out our coverage of its announcement. Also check out how Valve doesn’t see the Steam Frame as simply a successor to the Index.
