Valve is reviewing the entire Steam library for Steam Deck compatibility
Four categories will tell you whether or not your favourite Steam game will run on the hardware.
Valve has outlined how it plans to classify all of the games available in the Steam library and their suitability for the soon-to-release Steam Deck in a new video.
As per the latest video, embedded below, Valve has announced there will be four categories that each game will fit into that should give you a good idea of how stable it'll be on the handheld machine.
Games will be classed as one of the following:
- Verified: Complete system support – comes with full controller support, no compatibility warnings, supports Steam Deck native resolutions.
- Playable: Runs fine, but may need some custom tinkering. Per Valve, the "user to manually select a community controller config, needing to use the touchscreen to navigate a launcher" and so on.
- Unsupported: The game won't run. Any VR-only titles will be listed under this header.
- Unknown: Valve has not yet assessed the game.
Verified games will be easily identified via the Steam Deck UI and run well within four criteria, determined by the company. These are: Input, Seamlessness, Display, and System Support. Verified games will be grouped in a 'Great on Deck' tab on the Steam Deck's home interface.
If you're eager to know more details about why a game is simply Playable, rather than Verified, you can head to the Steam store page for a more detailed breakdown of the situation. Some games may be missing accurate controller UI elements, or insist that you use the virtual keyboard for some elements of gameplay, for example.
When it comes to how many games will actually work, though, the company seems confident: Valve has yet to see a game Steam Deck can't handle and it was recently shown running The Witcher 3 without a hitch. Valve does note that this is one huge task, and has committed to re-reviewing games, even once they've been tested once, to keep up to date with the ever-growing and changing library.
This follows last week's video from Valve, in which the company showed you how to teardown a Steam Deck – and begged you not to do the same because you "might mess things up, like, profoundly".
The Steam Deck begins shipping this December, and it's available in three configurations starting at $400.
If you're eager to learn more about Steam's mammoth task in checking through the extensive Steam library, you can head on over to RPS to read more about how you'll know which games will run on Valve's Steam Deck.