Valve will create a Steam Deck compatibility catalog for every game available on Steam

[Master Disaster]

Valve just announced they will be reviewing and rating every single game on their platform for Steam Deck compatibility.

Quote

With Steam Deck, we're bringing your Steam Library to a new form factor—a portable gaming PC. 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.

They will be using a 3 tiered system, Verified, Playable and Unsupported with currently untested games being labelled Unknown. There are 4 criteria a game must reach to be listed as verified, those are Input, Seamlessness, Display & System Support. The first 2 are controller support, input is if the game supports controllers at all and seamlessness is if the controller works in all launchers and menus as well as in game. Display means the game supports the Steam Deck native resolution of 1280x720/1280x800. Finally system support is if the game is fully supported either natively or with Proton including any middleware (like anti cheat).

All data will be collated and displayed on the Store while browsing for games plus there will be a new tab which only lists Steam Deck Verified titles.

 

Source - https://www.steamdeck.com/en/verified

Sounds like a great thing on paper but once you see the specifics it feels more like an effort to save their ticket system from being bombarded with XXX doesn't work. Inb4 Steam Support will only offer help to SD owners as long as the game is on the verified list otherwise its "sorry, you're on your own".

 

[Shreyas1]

I assume this means these games will all be compatible with Linux in general?

[Master Disaster]

Just now, Shreyas1 said:

I assume this means these games will all be compatible with Linux in general?

Pretty much yes, if it is Verified on Steam Deck then it can work on almost every Linux system. Notice I said "can work" and not "will work" though, system specific configurations will affect real world results.

[BobVonBob]

Actually really hype. Making compatibility so visible on the biggest PC game store puts pressure on developers/publishers to work to make their games more compatible with Linux, especially if the Steam Deck ends up successful in the long term.

[Mnky313]

30 minutes ago, Master Disaster said:

SD native resolution of 1280x720/1280x800

when did 720p become not HD anymore?

(this isn't directed at the OP really, I'm just noticing it more and more. Youtube also doesn't label 720p content as HD)

I guess it's the same logic behind why no one calls 100mbps ethernet 'fast ethernet', because 100mbps really ain't that fast anymore. Just like 720p ain't that 'high definition' anymore.

Edited October 19, 2021 by Mnky313
typo

[squallmx]

10 minutes ago, Mnky313 said:

when did 720p become not HD anymore?

(this isn't directed at the OP really, I'm just noticing it more and more. Youtube also doesn't label 720p content as HD)

I guess it's the same logic behind why no one calls 100mbps ethernet 'fast ethernet', because 100mbps really ain't that fast anymore. Just like 720p ain't that 'high definition' anymore.

In this case, I think "SD" is not Standard Definition but Steam Deck.

[suicidalfranco]

so protondb baked into the steam client 

[DeScruff]

This is exactly what I wanted from the "Steam Machine" concept years back.
Just a verification that, a game will run well on this tier of hardware, in the same way you see compatibility lists on Emulators with specific games.

 

Its small, but its really helps people who don't know much about specs get into PC gaming.

[Master Disaster]

2 hours ago, Mnky313 said:

when did 720p become not HD anymore?

(this isn't directed at the OP really, I'm just noticing it more and more. Youtube also doesn't label 720p content as HD)

I guess it's the same logic behind why no one calls 100mbps ethernet 'fast ethernet', because 100mbps really ain't that fast anymore. Just like 720p ain't that 'high definition' anymore.

Yeah, my bad. I meant Steam Deck, not Standard Def. I'll update it now

 

2 hours ago, suicidalfranco said:

so protondb baked into the steam client 

Nah, ProtonDB is for Linux support in general, this is purely for their own device. There could be possible situations where a verified game might not work on a specific configuration.

[suicidalfranco]

7 minutes ago, Master Disaster said:

Yeah, my bad. I meant Steam Deck, not Standard Def. I'll update it now

 

Nah, ProtonDB is for Linux support in general, this is purely for their own device. There could be possible situations where a verified game might not work on a specific configuration.

to me still sounds like protondb but with the steam deck hardware spec limitations as a filter in that list. 

[Quackers101]

wonder what that will mean, for the handheld or sort of linux in general?

[Forbidden Wafer]

Are they going to check it manually? Seems pretty crazy based on the size of their catalogue, but it's kinda of hard to believe it can be automatically checked (unless they do some sick robot to get through the menus, configure the settings, open the game and play a bit).

[Quackers101]

19 minutes ago, Forbidden Wafer said:

Are they going to check it manually? Seems pretty crazy based on the size of their catalogue, but it's kinda of hard to believe it can be automatically checked (unless they do some sick robot to get through the menus, configure the settings, open the game and play a bit).

could do something about a feedback report system built in. to show how stable things are, how many "error" reports and crashing that occur.

Also if they have data from the "normal" version, if there is some substract and contrast results. not sure, but on the size of steam I would think they do have a lot of data collected.

 

Also I bet they would do it manually on the most popular titles, to get people invested on using and have a better experience on the steam deck (not sure for how long or supported time or how many or good the verification would be).

[Kronoton]

15 hours ago, BobVonBob said:

puts pressure on developers/publishers to work to make their games more compatible with Linux,

 

Which does make the step to also port it to macOS so much easier.

 

IF both happen on a large scale the dominance of Windows in gaming might come to an end (years later, lets not kid ourselves),

[AndreiArgeanu]

It's great to hear but it also I find this hilarious because I know at some point they're going to have to test a lot of games like these ones if they're actually checking compatibility with every game.

[xAcid9]

1 hour ago, AndreiArgeanu said:

It's great to hear but it also I find this hilarious because I know at some point they're going to have to test a lot of games like these ones if they're actually checking compatibility with every game.

-snip-

I'm sure they'll take results from https://www.protondb.com

Those games that are not there or unpopular/niche they probably just gonna label it with

[Stahlmann]

9 hours ago, Forbidden Wafer said:

Are they going to check it manually? Seems pretty crazy based on the size of their catalogue, but it's kinda of hard to believe it can be automatically checked (unless they do some sick robot to get through the menus, configure the settings, open the game and play a bit).

Another option would be to leave the certification up to the devs and punish wrong compatibility labels. (for example by pulling the game from steam shop)

 

I don't see steam staff going through every single game on the platform and verifying SD compatibility. If you go by how crappy some games on the steam store are, there isn't a lot of quality control included when adding games to the store to begin with.

[Fasterthannothing]

21 hours ago, Mnky313 said:

when did 720p become not HD anymore?

(this isn't directed at the OP really, I'm just noticing it more and more. Youtube also doesn't label 720p content as HD)

I guess it's the same logic behind why no one calls 100mbps ethernet 'fast ethernet', because 100mbps really ain't that fast anymore. Just like 720p ain't that 'high definition' anymore.

Probably when 12k video became a thing. 720p is pretty garbage quality now. 

[Quackers101]

48 minutes ago, SlidewaysZ said:

Probably when 12k video became a thing. 720p is pretty garbage quality now. 

still a decent/good resolution. but also depends on what you watch it on etc.

[Kisai]

On 10/19/2021 at 8:37 AM, Master Disaster said:

 

Source - https://www.steamdeck.com/en/verified

Sounds like a great thing on paper but once you see the specifics it feels more like an effort to save their ticket system from being bombarded with XXX doesn't work. Inb4 Steam Support will only offer help to SD owners as long as the game is on the verified list otherwise its "sorry, you're on your own".

 

 

I only see this being a thing for "new releases"

 

[Master Disaster]

4 minutes ago, Kisai said:

 

I only see this being a thing for "new releases"

 

Nah, it literally says they are doing the entire catalogue on the home page...

Quote

Valve is reviewing the entire Steam catalog on 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.

 

[Video Beagle]

I imagine they'll just go backwards along their popularity lists.

[Radium_Angel]

On 10/19/2021 at 11:56 AM, BobVonBob said:

Making compatibility so visible on the biggest PC game store puts pressure on developers/publishers to work to make their games more compatible with Linux, especially if the Steam Deck ends up successful in the long term.

That's going to be a catch-22.

Devs will wait to see if the SD is successful, before ensuring their game is linux-friendly. Consequently, adoption of the SD will be slow because too many games won't work on it.

[BobVonBob]

33 minutes ago, Radium_Angel said:

That's going to be a catch-22.

Devs will wait to see if the SD is successful, before ensuring their game is linux-friendly. Consequently, adoption of the SD will be slow because too many games won't work on it.

It could be, or it could be a positive feedback loop.

 

It's looking very likely that the SD is going to have at least a large initial surge, and that surge could encourage devs to make their games linux friendly, which would drive more SD adoption, which drives more linux versions, etc.

 

This is all hypothetical anyway. We won't know what the real scenario will be until it happens, but I'm cautiously optimistic.

[Video Beagle]

13 hours ago, Radium_Angel said:

That's going to be a catch-22.

Devs will wait to see if the SD is successful, before ensuring their game is linux-friendly. Consequently, adoption of the SD will be slow because too many games won't work on it.

I'd expect there to be a bit of rush at start of devs touting Proton friendly status...ones that are "known to work" from the linux communities and ones that are easy to test.... there's value in being the first to plant your flag in new soil, both financially and in PR. I'm not saying pushing updates..just devs having someone play their games on the dev kits or systems they have for it, and filling out the check boxes.