Steam Deck OS Won't Be Readily Compatible With Every Game, Developer Says

Valve’s upcoming pocket PC won’t exactly be able to run every single game on someone’s Steam library despite initial claims, the developer behind the Steam Deck’s operating system said.

The Steam Deck won’t be able to readily play all of the games available on Steam due to potential conflicts with SteamOS, Rock Paper Shotgun reported. SteamOS, a Linux-based operating system, relies on the Proton compatibility layer that was co-developed by CodeWeavers, a tech company that collaborated with Valve for the Steam Deck project.

CodeWeavers president James B. Ramey told the "Boiling Steam" podcast that the Steam Deck won’t immediately be compatible with certain games on Steam. This implies that some Steam games may need compatibility patches for SteamOS before they can be played on the upcoming handheld device.

Ramey said that there may have been a misunderstanding between the fans and Valve’s Pierre-Loup Griffais during the latter’s interview with IGN.

According to Ramey, Griffais meant to emphasize that the Steam Deck’s hardware was strong enough to handle even the most demanding of games available on Steam’s library. Griffais’ statement did not include any mentions of software compatibility.

Rock Paper Shotgun noted that over 16,000 Steam games are already compatible with Proton, and they will be playable on the Steam Deck immediately. However, this drives the point that there will still be some existing titles that won’t be compatible with the Steam Deck.

Ramey did not mention if any upcoming titles will have any compatibility issues with Proton, however.

The Steam Deck was designed with heavy-duty handheld gaming in mind. Each device comes equipped with AMD’s Zen 2 and RDNA 2 hardware to deliver maximum performance without going overboard with power consumption, which is something that hopeful buyers were wary about as battery life plays a large factor in handheld gaming.

Players will be able to use the Steam Deck as a gaming console of sorts by using a dock like the Nintendo Switch. This will bypass the battery life issue that many are concerned about, but it can potentially provide a performance boost to the device if there are any available power-saver and performance mode options.

Gamers can expect to play most of Steam’s games so long as Proton compatibility allows. Potential buyers are advised to temper their expectations before making a purchase until more Steam Deck specifications are made available.