Valve Announces The First Steam VR Fest

gamespot.com:

Steam VR Fest will bring demos and discounts to your headset from July 18-25. It’s essentially a version of Steam Next Fest with a VR focus.

The news came via Steamworks documentation, so Valve has yet to release marketing material across any other official channel. Any VR title is eligible to participate in the event. Like other, similar promotions on Steam, discounts are not required to have your game featured, but are encouraged. The event will also show off upcoming VR games, as well as feature VR titles with demos.

Valve is already a big player in the VR space with their Index line of headsets, as well as the headlining game Half-Life Alyx, which won GameSpot's game of the year in 2020. An event like this shows an intentional investment in the VR space, even if most of the event’s material is coming from outside of the company. The space is also active with competitors, such as the upcoming PlayStation VR 2 and the popular Meta Quest, which recently moved away from mandatory Facebook logins. You can also play Steam games with a Meta Quest, if you hook it up to your PC. Rock Paper Shotgun pointed out that Valve filed a patent for a new VR headset in 2021.

Regardless of whether Valve will release new information concerning hardware at the event, Steam VR Fest is a sign that Valve will continue to plant its own flag in virtual reality.