There seems to be some confusion brewing on what games will actually run on the Steam Deck, so let this serve as a reminder on keeping expectations in check. Here's a quick refresher of how things are right now.
Some of the confusion seems to appear from an IGN interview, where Valve developer Pierre-Loup Griffais mentioned how "we haven't really found something that we could throw at this device that it couldn't handle" that we covered before. Here's the thing though: even though the Steam Deck will ship by default with the Arch Linux based SteamOS 3, they have also been testing Windows 10 and they've been working with AMD to get it supported on Windows 11 too. So speaking from a hardware standpoint, yes it probably will work with the vast majority of games on a performance level.
For regular readers and regular Linux gamers, knowing that the Steam Deck won't run everything is a given and this won't be news but there's plenty of people out there seemingly expecting a bit too much from it. Part of the problem though is Valve's marketing too, with it repeatedly mentioning your entire Steam library. They obviously want every game to work but that's simply not going to be the reality - at least not for a while.
For people who stick with SteamOS 3 this is where it doesn't quite match up. There's a good number of native Linux games (those actually built for Linux) and for everything else there's Steam Play Proton to run Windows games. A big majority of games work on Linux already between native and Proton but there's caveats.
Currently, Proton does not work with games that have the likes of Easy Anti-Cheat and BattlEye which is used in some of the most popular online titles. When it comes to EAC and BattlEye, we do know that Valve are working on it as they said in the developer documentation FAQ that they're "working with BattlEye and EAC to get support for Proton ahead of launch".
Another issue is Microsoft Media Foundation for videos, it's something of a nuisance and they don't play in Proton either. Currently Valve appear to be re-encoding the videos into a playable format which downloads with your game when run through Proton. That's a lot of work though too, there's a lot of games on Steam.
Then there's certain DRM too. Valve's older CEG (custom executable-generation) DRM also doesn't work in Proton, and there's no doubt a few other DRM/anti-tamper solutions that also don't work with Proton. Launchers can be a problem too, with some developers using .NET / Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF). For launchers Valve recommends that developers use something cross-platform and standalone like Qt or just skip launchers completely, which would be vastly better for gamepad/controller support too.
Compatibility will improve over time though as more developers hopefully look to support it directly and as Proton continues maturing. So even if your favourite or the latest AAA doesn't work right away, it might do later. There's still plenty of time until the Steam Deck releases and Valve has opened up requests for developer kits too. Valve also stated in their Steamworks video how "our goal is for every game to work by the time we ship Steam Deck" and that "there is a lot of work that has been done that doesn't yet affect the public version of Proton" so we are expecting the situation to improve. Until we see this special Proton release though, this article sums up the current situation.
If you're looking to try out Linux gaming and you're confused with Proton, be sure to check out our guide.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Quoting: andregregorherrmannI wonder why all the news sites jump on...Because they want the clicks.
The Steam Deck is a hot topic, but there's no actual news till December, when it's in testers' hands. Maybe Valve will release SteamOS 3, or a significant update for Proton, before then, for early testing, but they might not. Maybe a game dev will show their game running on a dev kit, but they'll probably keep that internal. Websites want to say something.
Misleadingly overhyping something, and then tearing it down later through something else misleading gives them controversy and drama, which they can turn into clicks. I'm really not surprised that it was the NME that was one of the first outlets to jump on a not-particularly-groundbreaking interview on a small Steam-enthusiast website: that cycle was NME's Standard Operating Practice back in the day.
Quoting: CatKillerAll of which is probably fine from a Steam Deck marketing perspective. I mean, what do these two article topics have in common?Quoting: andregregorherrmannI wonder why all the news sites jump on...Because they want the clicks.
The Steam Deck is a hot topic, but there's no actual news till December, when it's in testers' hands. Maybe Valve will release SteamOS 3, or a significant update for Proton, before then, for early testing, but they might not. Maybe a game dev will show their game running on a dev kit, but they'll probably keep that internal. Websites want to say something.
Misleadingly overhyping something, and then tearing it down later through something else misleading gives them controversy and drama, which they can turn into clicks. I'm really not surprised that it was the NME that was one of the first outlets to jump on a not-particularly-groundbreaking interview on a small Steam-enthusiast website: that cycle was NME's Standard Operating Practice back in the day.
1. There's a shiny new thing coming that might be great!
2. There's a shiny new thing coming that might have problems!
--> There's a shiny new thing coming!
Win.
Quoting: whizseWhich, just so we're clear, I do not stand behind in any way.Quoting: Purple Library GuyA quick google suggests that there are around 50,000 gamesThat's an interesting tidbit.
Quoting: whizseThere's about 5000 (open and closed) game specific issues on the Proton bug tracker, and around 20 000 game reports on ProtonDB. So half the games on Steam have never been put through the ringer?Well, yeah, but specifically the games nobody cares about.
https://boilingsteam.com/steam-deck-the-start-of-a-golden-age-for-linux-gaming/
Quoting: Purple Library GuyWell, yeah, but specifically the games nobody cares about.Or games people are reluctant to admit to playing? No Proton reports for titles like The Seduction of Shaqeera!?
First of all I think Linux will never be a mainstream OS, that is if we want Linux to conserve it's current identity (which in my opinion is what pulls people to the current niche market that it has, I'm ignoring server market here).
I think achieving a full "plug & play" Linux is not gonna be enough to make it go full bombastic.
At this point, I think the PC user all it know is, to install Discord they have to go to discord[dot]com and download a binary blob then double click it and install it, for them, "that's it". Doesn't matter that we know that typing "apt/pamac/yum install discord" is many times faster and simpler.
so I think Steam Deck will be a step up but is not gonna be it in terms of the Linux adoption that we are looking for.
And honestly, I'm OK with the current status, I think more than this will have to be achieved with sacrifices that many of us won't like.
Besides, didn't MS back AOM? They should start using free codecs as well.
Last edited by Shmerl on 9 September 2021 at 3:23 am UTC
TheRiddick Sep 9, 2021
ElectricPrism Sep 9, 2021
At this time of writing ProtonDB.com reports Gold++ on
QuoteSingle Player:
Top 10: 90%
Top 100: 89%
Top 1000: 82%
Indie Games:
Top 10: 90%
Top 100: 80%
Top 1000: 76%
Local Multiplayer:
Top 10: 90%
Top 100: 82%
Top 1000: 48%
I suspect the lowest number in Local Multiplayer is 100% due to DRM tech which should be ready around launch time.
To to summarize the numbers, as of September 2021 it's already at 80-90% -- my estimation is that it'll be generally at least 90% or more by launch.
Taking into account Pierre-Loup Griffais' generalized speech, I think his statement is still appropriate as VIRTUALLY all games will work out of box, or at the very least the hardware can do it.
Of course, no one really expects to be playing VR titles like Half Life Alyx, or Beat Saber on their Valve
The only question I have is were we better off grounding ourselves in reality & putting the anchor down now, or popping the bubble later after people had these expectations for a longer period of time.
I think most reasonable and not hype-train people already correctly interpreted reality -- I think we're likely better off since I'd rather have these news articles come out now instead of at launch or post-launch to sour the party punch.
It's sad that we live in a day of clickbait and fearporn to sell news as entertainment, another round of hype videos like the initial ones from VIP before launch could help a lot too.
I think most people's expectations will be met and they will like the device a lot.
Last edited by ElectricPrism on 9 September 2021 at 6:41 pm UTC
ElectricPrism Sep 9, 2021
Quoting: MohandevirAll I know is: If this statement is just PR then SteamOS is over, because a lot of people already think that this is just steam machines all over again, and I'm worry that if Steam deck fails, then it'll have a huge negative impact in the progress of games running on linux.
Bruh, you got it all backwards, if people literally make the Steam Machines connection they will immediately have lower-expectations to begin with which will lead to pleasant surprise when it kicks ass.
The Doom & Gloom expectation problem is the same problem as the Hypetrain Choo Choo MF problem -- both are extremes not really grounded in reality.
The Deck is gonna be awesome, just not perfect -- does that clarify. They literally already sold out pre-orders for nearly an entire year. Can you imagine the infusion of developers, gamers, and average users into our community and what that will mean for all kinds of new github projects and the increase volume of gamers demanding support?
We good, homez. 2022 is gonna be lit.
Edit: Seeing some other sentiments in the comments I wanted to comment on
Quoting: whizseYeah, I think I mentioned this before, but it will be interesting to follow media reports. Going by ProtonDB* 82% of games tested work. That's pretty good. But if you focus on the top ten, only 50% work.
See ProtonDB stats 1 comment above and toggle the category drop-down on ProtonDB.com -- both of those numbers are not representative of Proton's capability because they are obviously specifically lower in Multiplayer which have very high levels of DRM. If EAC or BattlEye didn't exist those numbers would be in the 80s and 90s as is seen in other categories like Single Player.
Note to Valve: If you're reading this, please for the love of yourself, DO NOT put any Epic Games blobs in my kernel. It doesn't make sense to give a competitor that kind of power, and it's a potential vector for Epic Games, Timmy Tencent & China to have powers over me as a gamer -- I would appreciate some clarification on this at some point in the future and expect to not literally have a Chinese Root-kit running on my Steam Deck. Thank You.
Also, as we saw when Wacom made a Companion & Mobile Studio that competed with their ex-partner Microsoft Surface Pro (Gen 4?), we saw YEARS of driver issues -- I honestly would not be surprised if Microsoft was purposely sabotaging Wacom devices as they competed with Surface Pro -- we saw Apple sabotage iPhone 6 users and degrade performance for no good reason and then get sued and loose for that exact kind of anti-user thing. I really wouldn't bat an eye if Microsoft found "oopsies" for potential Steam Deck games who might choose to run Windows 10 or 11 -- they need to have the expectation that their Steam Deck experience is not as guaranteed as the official Valve Steam Operating System 3.0
Also, I would appreciate if someday there was a voice interactive AI that we have the GlaDOS announcer do it lol
Last edited by ElectricPrism on 9 September 2021 at 6:48 am UTC
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