New Steam documentation details the Steam Frame verification program for standalone with a key requirement different from Meta Quest.
Slides in Steamworks documentation mention developers building standalone VR games for the Steam Frame need to deliver performance at 90 frames per second.
While 90 FPS has long been considered the bar for delivering comfort in VR to the vast majority of VR users — all the way back to the first Vive and Rift on PC — you can see on Meta’s website that its requirements for developers of VR titles on Quest headsets are more lenient than that, allowing refresh rates down to 72 Hz.
Quest and Steam Frame are very different systems, so it’s possible achieving 90 FPS on Valve’s headset won’t be a challenge for many developers. Still, it is possible the higher rate requirement could make it difficult for some developers porting their standalone interactive VR apps from Meta to Valve to receive Steam Frame Verification. Some major titles, for example, may be using a technology called Application SpaceWarp on Meta headsets as a trick to get their software running even at the 72 Hz minimum.
The Quest ecosystem remains in disarray after Meta’s costly data gathering period promoting slop in Horizon Worlds in front of developers building Quest VR games. Some developers have simply walked away from VR or handed off their projects to others, and those that haven’t are still cash strapped and may struggle to devote time to the kind of optimization required to boost a title from 72 Hz to 90 Hz.
While not exactly a show-stopper technically for developers who want to take their games from Quest to Frame, from experience I know that seeing Steam Deck-verified on a title in the store makes me much more likely to lay down some cash for a game to play in handheld. The same is likely to hold true for Steam Frame Verification.
Article updated after publication with additional context.