Taking a look at the most-played games on Steam by player-count, here's how many of them should be playable on Steam Deck and desktop Linux. Checking via the Steam Deck Verified rating (either Verified or Playable), and then the ProtonDB / Linux Native rating for desktop Linux.
While the top 100 changes quite often, it's still a really interesting way to look at overall compatibility.
Overall we're seeing 83/100 at least rated Playable on Steam Deck and 84/100 work on desktop Linux with a Gold rating on ProtonDB or higher (or Linux Native support).
Here's the full rankings breakdown:
Rank |
Game Title |
Steam Deck |
Desktop Linux |
|
1 |
Playable |
Linux Native |
|
|
2 |
Verified |
ProtonDB Gold |
|
|
3 |
Playable |
Linux Native |
|
|
4 |
Unsupported (anti-cheat) |
Unsupported (anti-cheat) |
|
|
5 |
Verified |
ProtonDB Gold |
|
|
6 |
Playable |
ProtonDB Gold |
|
|
7 |
Playable |
ProtonDB Silver |
|
|
8 |
Unsupported (anti-cheat) |
Unsupported (anti-cheat) |
|
|
9 |
Unsupported |
ProtonDB Bronze |
|
|
10 |
Verified |
Linux Native |
|
|
11 |
Unsupported (anti-cheat) |
Unsupported (anti-cheat) |
|
|
12 |
Playable |
Linux Native |
|
|
13 |
Playable |
Linux Native |
|
|
14 |
Verified |
ProtonDB Gold |
|
|
15 |
Unsupported (anti-cheat) |
Unsupported (anti-cheat) |
|
|
16 |
Verified |
ProtonDB Silver |
|
|
17 |
Verified |
ProtonDB Gold |
|
|
18 |
Verified |
ProtonDB Gold |
|
|
19 |
Unsupported (anti-cheat) |
Unsupported (anti-cheat) |
|
|
20 |
Verified |
ProtonDB Gold |
|
|
21 |
Playable |
Linux Native |
|
|
22 |
Verified |
Linux Native |
|
|
23 |
Playable |
Linux Native |
|
|
24 |
Verified |
Linux Native |
|
|
25 |
Unsupported |
ProtonDB Gold |
|
|
26 |
Playable |
Linux Native |
|
|
27 |
Verified |
Linux Native |
|
|
28 |
Playable |
ProtonDB Gold |
|
|
29 |
Verified |
ProtonDB Gold |
|
|
30 |
Playable |
Linux Native |
|
|
31 |
Playable |
ProtonDB Gold |
|
|
32 |
Playable |
ProtonDB Gold |
|
|
33 |
Playable |
Linux Native |
|
|
34 |
Verified |
Linux Native |
|
|
35 |
Unsupported (anti-cheat) |
Unsupported (anti-cheat) |
|
|
36 |
Verified |
Linux Native |
|
|
37 |
Unsupported |
ProtonDB Bronze |
|
|
38 |
Verified |
Linux Native |
|
|
39 |
Playable |
ProtonDB Gold |
|
|
40 |
Playable |
ProtonDB Gold |
|
|
41 |
Unsupported (anti-cheat) |
Unsupported (anti-cheat) |
|
|
42 |
Unsupported (anti-cheat) |
Unsupported (anti-cheat) |
|
|
43 |
Verified |
ProtonDB Platinum |
|
|
44 |
Verified |
Linux Native |
|
|
45 |
Playable |
ProtonDB Gold |
|
|
46 |
Verified |
ProtonDB Gold |
|
|
47 |
Playable |
ProtonDB Gold |
|
|
48 |
Verified |
ProtonDB Gold |
|
|
49 |
Verified |
ProtonDB Platinum |
|
|
50 |
Playable |
ProtonDB Gold |
|
|
51 |
Playable |
ProtonDB Gold |
|
|
52 |
Playable |
Linux Native |
|
|
53 |
Playable |
ProtonDB Platinum |
|
|
54 |
Verified |
ProtonDB Gold |
|
|
55 |
Playable |
ProtonDB Gold |
|
|
56 |
Verified |
ProtonDB Gold |
|
|
57 |
Playable |
ProtonDB Gold |
|
|
58 |
Verified |
ProtonDB Gold |
|
|
59 |
Unsupported |
Linux Native |
|
|
60 |
Verified |
ProtonDB Gold |
|
|
61 |
Unsupported |
ProtonDB Gold |
|
|
62 |
Verified |
Linux Native |
|
|
63 |
Playable |
ProtonDB Gold |
|
|
64 |
Playable |
ProtonDB Platinum |
|
|
65 |
Unsupported |
ProtonDB Gold |
|
|
66 |
Unsupported |
Linux Native |
|
|
67 |
Verified |
Linux Native |
|
|
68 |
Playable |
Linux Native |
|
|
69 |
Verified |
ProtonDB Platinum |
|
|
70 |
Playable |
ProtonDB Gold |
|
|
71 |
Verified |
ProtonDB Gold |
|
|
72 |
Playable |
ProtonDB Gold |
|
|
73 |
Playable |
ProtonDB Gold |
|
|
74 |
Playable |
ProtonDB Silver |
|
|
75 |
Playable |
Linux Native |
|
|
76 |
Unsupported |
Unsupported |
|
|
77 |
Playable |
ProtonDB Platinum |
|
|
78 |
Verified |
ProtonDB Gold |
|
|
79 |
Playable |
ProtonDB Gold |
|
|
80 |
Playable |
Linux Native |
|
|
81 |
Playable |
ProtonDB Gold |
|
|
82 |
Playable |
Linux Native |
|
|
83 |
Playable |
ProtonDB Gold |
|
|
84 |
Unsupported |
ProtonDB Gold |
|
|
85 |
Playable |
ProtonDB Silver |
|
|
86 |
Verified |
ProtonDB Gold |
|
|
87 |
Verified |
Linux Native |
|
|
88 |
Playable |
Linux Native |
|
|
89 |
Verified |
ProtonDB Gold |
|
|
90 |
Verified |
ProtonDB Gold |
|
|
91 |
Playable |
ProtonDB Gold |
|
|
92 |
Verified |
ProtonDB Gold |
|
|
93 |
Playable |
ProtonDB Platinum |
|
|
94 |
Verified |
Linux Native |
|
|
95 |
Playable |
ProtonDB Platinum |
|
|
96 |
Playable |
Linux Native |
|
|
97 |
Playable |
ProtonDB Gold |
|
|
98 |
Verified |
Linux Native |
|
|
99 |
Playable |
ProtonDB Silver |
|
|
100 |
Playable |
ProtonDB Platinum |
Note: I intentionally did not remove stuff like Wallpaper Engine and tmodloader, as the point was the full top 100 exactly as it was on Steam at the time. This top 100 snapshot was taken today at around 17:00 BST. It seems around this time Destiny 2 also had a big player drop so it fell out of the top 100, missing it was not intentional but the list is accurate for the time it was taken.
So that's the position the Steam Deck and desktop Linux are in a bit over half way through 2023. Hopefully you found that and the ratings interesting listed together like this.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Aug 8, 2023
Seems like anti-cheat the main reason for non playable, good times!
Yep, other than Soundboard and Wallpaper Engine, which aren't games (as noted in the article), it's all anti-cheat. Well, that's not quite true on the Steam Deck front - there's a couple of examples there like DayZ and Total War Warhammer 3 which don't work there, even if they're native! Presumably just not enough power to make the games work.
But generally, yeah, anti-cheat. Pretty frustrating to be this close and still have that one technology trip up a portion of the experience.
Craggles086 Aug 9, 2023
Guess that prediction was selling Valve short.
Still hoping that Elite Dangerous will get some work to make it Steam Deck compatible.
gaboversta Aug 9, 2023
I remember this being THE game a friend and I used to play, and even back then it was old. I have since learned that the internet seems to like Age of Empires II more, so that's why I'm surprised.
Wait, where is destiny 2. Shouldn't it be in the top 100?
Yeah, it's 25th overall for me right now, 23rd by daily players. I wonder if the list changes by time of day so much that even the top-25 can drop out briefly. Maybe when the US is asleep?
At the time I took the snapshot, Destiny 2 had a player drop-off. It was not in the top 100 at that time. You can see it on SteamDB. Doing the top 100 based on current players is certainly not foolproof. I will look at doing another way as well soon :)Wait, where is destiny 2. Shouldn't it be in the top 100?
Yeah, it's 25th overall for me right now, 23rd by daily players. I wonder if the list changes by time of day so much that even the top-25 can drop out briefly. Maybe when the US is asleep?
I thought people had been saying that Gary’s Mod was never going to be playable on Linux.
Guess that prediction was selling Valve short.
Still hoping that Elite Dangerous will get some work to make it Steam Deck compatible.
I play elite on my deck all the time. It works great. you just need to play in desktop mode.
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