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Another juicy milestone for Valve with the Steam Deck, as it now has over 9,000 games rated as either Verified or Playable.

Going by the list on SteamDB, which also takes into account those titles that have been removed for sale, which players can still download if they own the games the current status is:

  • Verified - 3,276
  • Playable - 5,750
  • Unsupported - 2,879

Keeping in mind, these are only those that have been through Valve's Deck Verified certification, there's plenty more that do work out of the box with no changes needed. Over time the numbers will naturally just keep rising, especially with upgrades to the Proton compatibility layer along with some more Native Linux releases.

It's also worth remembering that Deck Verified isn't perfect, there will be some games that are Verified that shouldn't be, and same again for Unsupported - some of them work and some don't. We really don't know how Valve actually test, as they've been a bit tight-lipped on it.

According to Valve this is the criteria for being 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.

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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soulsource May 4, 2023
If anyone wants to check the official documentation about certification, it can be found here: https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/steamdeck/compat

What I consider interesting (as in: it annoys me) is the phrasing of the controller support requirement. It allows games to get verified that don't support gamepad input, because the touchpads are considered part of the Deck's physical controls. Any game that can be played with a mouse automatically passes this requirement...
HJ May 4, 2023
CatKiller May 4, 2023
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Quoting: soulsourceIf anyone wants to check the official documentation about certification, it can be found here: https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/steamdeck/compat

What I consider interesting (as in: it annoys me) is the phrasing of the controller support requirement. It allows games to get verified that don't support gamepad input, because the touchpads are considered part of the Deck's physical controls. Any game that can be played with a mouse automatically passes this requirement...
Not all games that don't support controller will automatically pass: "Interacting with any physical Deck controls using the default configuration must not show non-controller glyphs." So even if the default layout is using touchpad mouse (which is perfectly valid for, eg, point & click, strategy, or FPS games) the game can't use "left click/right click" or "WASD." Use of the touchscreen (which is also one of the Deck's controls) is also excluded from being adequate for Deck Verified testing.
Eike May 4, 2023
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Do they keep the (verifying) pace? The portion of my library checked is high (about two thirds), but stopped rising some months ago.
X6205 May 4, 2023
I would not count on "Verified" status, because i was playing RE Village a few days back and while it runs great, there are some in-game videos which are showing only green screen placeholder instead of actual video.
Eike May 4, 2023
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Quoting: X6205I would not count on "Verified" status, because i was playing RE Village a few days back and while it runs great, there are some in-game videos which are showing only green screen placeholder instead of actual video.

I've been asked on Deck every now and then if I agree with Valve's impression of the game.
einherjar May 4, 2023
Much more important than the number of total games "playable" are other things IMHO:

* Games that are verified stay reliably verified
* It is clear to the customers, which games run and again, the customers can trust that "verified thing"
* It gets well known and is easy buyable
* No tinkering needed to have a great gaming experience
* Tinkering and playing around with the Deck is possible (but NOT needed)

Then it can have a significant success.
Actually it is a niche product and most "normal" people do not even know about it and therefor buy a switch.


Last edited by einherjar on 4 May 2023 at 1:13 pm UTC
slaapliedje May 4, 2023
Quoting: X6205I would not count on "Verified" status, because i was playing RE Village a few days back and while it runs great, there are some in-game videos which are showing only green screen placeholder instead of actual video.
Sounds like it needs Glorious Eggroll. But that's weird that it'd be considered 'Verified' as I think that should mean that it needs zero tweaks to get it to run 100%.
CatKiller May 4, 2023
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Quoting: slaapliedjeSounds like it needs Glorious Eggroll. But that's weird that it'd be considered 'Verified' as I think that should mean that it needs zero tweaks to get it to run 100%.
Despite Valve's lofty goals, the testing is patchy - particularly for things that happen later in the game. MGS5 had some in-game videos that were bugged under Wine - you'd get a frame every couple of seconds and broken audio - that was unfixed for years, and they gave that a green tick long before it got fixed because the first video doesn't come in until after the very long tutorial section.
Kimyrielle May 4, 2023
In my own experience, most of the time when I find a "Verified" game to be less than playable is when the testers apply a very loose definition of "legible text".
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