A release date for the Steam Frame has not yet been officially announced. However, data mining by VR leaker Brad Lynch has unearthed a reservation system in Valve's back-end, suggesting the hardware may not be far off.
Lynch shared a look at the definitely not yet live reservation system on X. "Expect nothing. It isn’t ready," he posted, accompanied by a screenshot of a lottery drawing notification email claiming the draw results would be revealed on the placeholder date of 31 December, 1969. Obviously, Valve aren't time travellers, and this date was likely chosen to avoid any part of this system going live before it's meant to.
Lynch wrote that the reservation system "is already up in Steam's backend for these two SKUs" in an earlier post, but shared no further hardware details. The data miner then added, "Before you ask: No. You can’t do anything with this information to beat the lottery system."
A reservation system isn't all that surprising, as Valve had these in place for both the Steam Machine and the new Steam Controller. The queue appears to have shortened for the Steam Machine since its June release, but Valve likely won't catch up on new Steam Controller reservations until 2027.
Uncovering a similar reservation system for Valve's VR headset is significant mainly because it implies a Steam Frame release could be close enough to touch. It also suggests stock may not be abundant to begin with—at least, not to the point that a reservation system wouldn't be necessary.
