Valve was a big supporter of the Oculus Rift VR system, but dropped it like a hot brick once Facebook made its historical buyout of the technology start-up.

But clearly the Steam operator didn't lose interest in the burgeoning virtual reality gaming arena, and is ready to unveil its own entry into the VR hardware market.

As part of its big GDC 2015 show, Valve is to let game developers try out its own SteamVR dev kit. Both devs and publishers are being invited to head along to the Moscone Centre on 4-6 March to try it out, and get excited about producing content for this latest VR system.

And it's likely to be a strong contender. Whereas most new VR unveilings are face cases for smartphones, it seems unlikely that the PC gaming-focused Valve is going in that direction.

Steaming

SteamVR will likely be going head-to-head against dedicated systems like Oculus Rift, and given that there's a potential market of 125 million Steam users already in place, it becomes a very alluring proposition for early VR game makers.

"Steam is bringing the best games and user-generated content to exciting new destinations. At GDC 2015, we'll be giving demos of the refined Steam Controller, new living room devices, and a previously-unannounced SteamVR hardware system," says Valve.

The hardware demonstrations, including Steam VR and the long-awaited Steam Machine console, are likely to all come together under the game-oriented operating system SteamOS, offering a simple and seamless way for the gaming public to access a new range of virtual reality experiences.

When you consider the pieces Valve has already put in place, it could almost seem better positioned than Oculus to bring VR gaming directly to the living room.

Anyone interested in testing out SteamVR is being asked to put their name on a list, due to limited spaces at Valve's GDC booth.