Steam Deck

Platform(s): PC
Genre: Hardware
Publisher: Valve
Developer: Valve
Release Date: Feb. 28, 2022

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Vavle Introduces Steam Deck Verified To Inform You How Well Games Will Run

by Rainier on Oct. 18, 2021 @ 1:31 p.m. PDT

Steam Deck brings the Steam games and features you love to a powerful and convenient form factor that you can take wherever you go.

Steam Deck brings the Steam games and features you love to a powerful and convenient form factor that you can take wherever you go.

Steam Deck is also an open PC, adding the ability to install any software or connect with any hardware, with your Steam library available as soon as you switch on your Deck. Once you've logged into Steam Deck, your entire Steam Library shows up, just like any other PC. You'll be able to find your collections and favorites - exactly where you left them.

The all-new home screen is everything you love about Steam in one place. Home is where you’ll find all the things you need—dive back into a game whether you were playing it on Steam Deck or your PC, see what’s new in your library and the store, as well as what your friends are up to.

On Steam Deck, your games run on a different operating system than the one on your desktop PC. It's a new version of SteamOS, built with Steam Deck in mind and optimized for a handheld gaming experience. It comes with Proton, a compatibility layer that makes it possible to run your games without any porting work needed from developers. For Deck, we're vastly improving Proton's game compatibility and support for anti-cheat solutions by working directly with the vendors.

Today Valve announced Deck Verified, a new system to help customers see at-a-glance how games will play on Steam Deck.

Valve is reviewing the entire Steam catalog, and will be categorizing each game by its level of compatibility with Steam Deck. After each game is reviewed, it is categorized for its level of compatibility of Steam Deck. You’ll see these categories on Steam, when you’re browsing your library or shopping for games on Deck.

"While many games run great on Deck out of the box, this shift means there are some games that, while they may be great on a desktop PC, aren't a great experience on Steam Deck. We want it to be easy for you to find great gaming experiences on Steam Deck, so we’ve designed a system to do just that."

Four categories of Deck compatibility

  • Verified: The game works great on Steam Deck, right out of the box.
  • Playable: The game may require some manual tweaking by the user to play*.
  • Unsupported: The game is currently not functional on Steam Deck.
  • Unknown: We haven't checked this game for compatibility yet.

*E.g. requiring user to manually select a community controller config, needing to use the touchscreen to navigate a launcher, etc.

Games that check these four boxes are Deck Verified:

  • Input: The title should have full controller support, use appropriate controller input icons, and automatically bring up the on-screen keyboard when needed.
  • Display: The game should support the default resolution of Steam Deck (1280x800 or 1280x720), have good default settings, and text should be legible.
  • Seamlessness: The title shouldn’t display any compatibility warnings, and if there’s a launcher it should be navigable with a controller.
  • System Support: If running through Proton, the game and all its middleware should be supported by Proton. This includes anti-cheat support.

The first tab in the Steam Store shows only games that are great on Steam Deck. The rest of the tabs show the full Store with the entire catalog of games. You’ll be able to see Steam Deck compatibility details for every title that has been reviewed, giving you the information you need to inform your playing and purchasing decisions. When you visit your Library on Steam Deck, you’ll find a compatibility badge on each title, reflecting the kind of experience you can expect when playing each game on Steam Deck.

The Valve team is currently working on a way for you to be able to check the compatibility category of each of the games in your own library ahead of launch.

In addition, you’ll soon be able to see which games in the Steam catalog have already gone through Steam Deck review, and what compatibility category they fall in. More on this soon.

"We’ve already started reviewing titles and will continue to check games through launch and beyond. This is an ongoing evaluation of the entire catalog and a game's rating can change over time - titles will be re-reviewed as the developer releases updates or the Deck's software improves."

Steam Deck details:

  • Powerful, custom APU developed with AMD
  • Optimized for hand-held gaming
  • All the Steam features you’d expect
    • Steam Chat: Your friends are all here—access Steam Chat at the push of a button.
    • Notifications: All notifications are now in one place, so you can check-in without leaving your game.
    • Cloud Saves: Start playing on a PC and pick up right where you left off on Deck or vice versa.
    • Remote Play:Stream games from your home PC directly to your Deck no matter where you are.
    • Store: The entire Steam Store experience is accessible from Deck.
    • Community: Keep up to date with friends, news, and all the latest activity from Steam
  • Full-sized controls
  • 7" touchscreen
  • Wi-Fi and Bluetooth ready
  • USB-C port for accessories
  • microSD slot for storage expansion
  • 3 different storage options available: 64GB ($399), 256GB ($529) and 512GB ($649)

Steam Deck starts shipping December 2021 to the United States, Canada, the European Union, and the United Kingdom. More regions coming in 2022—stay tuned for more info.


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