Steam’s streaming software now lets you wirelessly play PC VR games on Quest headsets
This is basically an official version of Virtual Desktop.
One of the key selling points of Meta Quest VR headsets is that they can play PC VR titles, but you have to be physically connected via a link cable to the PC. There are some third-party workarounds that allow for wireless game streaming, like Virtual Desktop, but now Steam has unveiled an official solution.
Steam Link is a tool available for Meta Quest 2, 3 and Pro that wirelessly streams PC VR games from your Steam library directly to the headset, so you can continue to avoid cables like the plague. The free app already exists, but has been used to stream Steam games onto phones, tablets and TVs. This is the first time it’s available for VR titles.
There’s one major caveat. Just like Virtual Desktop, you still need a capable PC that can run high-end VR games. You just won’t need the link cable. It’s possible this service can work via cloud computing platforms, but the results are likely to be janky at best. Steam outlines recommended PC specs, suggesting the NVIDIA GTX970 GPU or better, 16GB of RAM and Windows 10 or newer.
Beyond the PC, you also need a 5GHz WiFi router with both the headset and the computer connected to the same network. You can download the Steam Link app directly from the Quest store to get started. This may not be the biggest deal in the world to folks who already use Virtual Desktop, but anything that gets more people into Half Life: Alyx is a good thing.
