Connecting the dots: The Steam Machine received most of the attention during Valve's major hardware announcement last month, but a minor detail in the company's upcoming standalone VR headset could eventually have far larger ramifications for PC gaming. While Valve's plans beyond next year remain unclear, the Steam Frame could become a Trojan horse for bringing the platform to most mobile devices.
Valve recently told The Verge that it has spent years funding the development of emulators and translation layers to make x86 games playable on Arm chips. Work by developers both inside and outside the company could make Windows titles run smoothly on Android and other platforms without porting or streaming.
GameHub technically enables this today. Its Android frontend runs numerous PC games on phones and tablets using the Fex emulator. Valve will also use Fex to run Windows titles on its upcoming VR headset, the Steam Frame, which uses an Arm-based Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor.
What most didn't know until recently is that Valve has been Fex's key development backer for nearly a decade. In the lengthy interview, SteamOS and Steam Deck architect Pierre-Loup Griffais explained that the company began recruiting developers for Linux and Arm translation layers in 2016 and 2017.
Valve didn't have specific hardware in mind at the time, but it recently told Road to VR that work on the Steam Frame's lenses began around 2018, before the launch of its predecessor, the Index headset. Still, the company understood that Arm processors – which power most phones and tablets – would be essential below certain price points and power profiles.
Valve also recognized that shippable translation layers would require around a decade of development. Although Fex lead developer Ryan Houdek isn't a Valve employee, the company has paid him enough that building the translation layer is currently his full-time job.
The implications could stretch far beyond the Steam Frame's ability to run Windows x86 code without streaming from a PC. Valve says that, although it isn't currently developing other Arm devices, external manufacturers have expressed interest in SteamOS.
Fex could also enable gaming compatibility on Qualcomm-based Windows laptops and upcoming Android PCs. While Qualcomm plans to let developers begin releasing Arm-native Windows titles in 2026, echoing Apple Silicon, Griffais said Valve considers porting games a waste of time.
Another version of the company's Proton translation layer can already run Android software on SteamOS. This is meant to help developers easily port Android XR and Meta Quest games to the Steam Frame, but it also potentially opens the door to shipping mobile-native code on Steam elsewhere.
Other opportunities could emerge if regulators force Google and Apple to open their mobile walled gardens. The European Union's Digital Markets Act – which Apple and the US government are currently resisting – forced the company to allow sideloading and alternate app stores on iPhones and iPads in the EU. Epic Games is already taking advantage of the new rules.
Meanwhile, as Google moves to restrict Android sideloading, authorities in numerous countries are attempting to legislate against those policies. If they succeed, an iPhone or Samsung Galaxy could eventually become a Steam phone.