Valve today released its first-ever application on one of Meta’s VR platforms. Steam Link allows users to quickly and easily connect their Quest headset wirelessly to SteamVR to play PC VR or flatscreen PC content.
Oculus Link / Air Link has for years allowed any Quest headset to connect to a PC to play PC VR content, but it requires users to install and use the long-outdated Oculus PC software. In many cases, that ends up just being a bothersome extra step to finally ending up at SteamVR which has a much more active library of VR apps and users.
To streamline this process, Valve today released the Steam Link app on the main Quest store (which means it has been given Meta’s official blessing). Using Steam Link, the app makes it dead simple to connect Quest directly to SteamVR without the Oculus PC software as a middle layer.
All you need to do is have a capable PC running Steam on the same network as your headset. Then launch the Steam Link app in your Quest and you’ll be greeted with a pairing code. Enter the code on your PC and… voila, you’re looking at your SteamVR library.
And it isn’t just PC VR games—you can also play any game from your Steam library on a big screen in front of you. Again, this has all been possible before, but Steam Link makes the process easier than ever.
To use Steam Link, Valve says the minimum requirements are:
- Wi-Fi: 5 GHz minimum, wired connection to PC
- GPUs: NVIDIA (GTX970 or better)
- OS: Windows 10 or newer
- Headset: Meta Quest 2, 3, or Pro
There’s indications that Steam Link on Quest may also support eye-tracking and face-tracking for those using Oculus Pro, but we haven’t had a chancre to test it just yet.
