A few days ago, Valve’s console celebrated one year since its launch, and it can be said that it has had moderate success. Moreover, as with any game console, the catalog of games largely determines its success.
It can be said that the Steam Deck is a portable console based on a general PC platform, and its operating system is Linux. But we must remember that the console’s success would not be the same if only Linux-compatible games could be played on the Steam Deck.
The key to the Steam Deck is largely due to the compatibility built on Wine that makes Windows games work on Linux. Thanks to the good compatibility of Windows games on the console, there is virtually no difference between native or ported games.
Interesting innovation
The Steam Deck distinguishes between games that are native or verified and those that are adapted or playable. Native games have been designed specifically for the console and offer a better experience on the Steam Deck; on the other hand, some adapted games work well but may cause some problems on the screen or in the controls.
In addition to the above, there are two other categories for Steam Deck games; most are from the Steam catalog. Most of these games have not been tested, and those tested are not compatible; to a large extent, many titles do not work because of barriers imposed by the developers. Therefore, the Steam Deck catalog must be much larger than is known or believed.
Games compatible with the Steam Deck
A few months ago, Valve reported that it has 5,000 compatible games. However, that number is rising, and now the number of compatible games is approximately 8,000.
However, quantity is not the only thing that matters in the catalog; quality is crucial, and Valve has focused on it since the launch of its portable console.
The most prominent case is that more games are compatible with Linux than Steam Deck. However, that’s not a problem since if it works well on one; it will be able to work well on the other.
Number of Steam games compatible with the Steam Deck
According to the data published by Boling Steam, 75% of the most popular games on Steam are compatible with the Steam Deck; moreover, they can be played without any problems.
The 75% is quite a high percentage and is divided as follows:
- Twenty-six are verified games.
- Forty-seven are playable games.
- Twenty-four are unsupported games.
- Three are games for which there is no data.
Here are some examples of the most popular triple-A games on Steam that are playable on the console:
- Shadow of the Tomb Raider
- Elden Ring
- The Evil Within 2
- God of War
- Alien Isolation
- Resident Evil 2 remake
- Half-Life 2
- Persona 5 Royal
- Dead Space remake
The games mentioned are just a few; the list is much longer. Moreover, that list will continue to grow as the console’s popularity grows.