Valve introduces game compatibility rating system for Steam Deck

The Steam Deck may not arrive in our eager, extremely sweaty hands before mid-2022, but Valve is doing all it can to assure us that, yes, the affordable, handheld gaming PC is definitely, really, truly coming. Perhaps to help assuage our anxieties, the company uploaded a video to YouTube earlier today explaining Steam Deck’s new rating system to judge game titles’ compatibility with the device. Check out the brief primer below for a closer look at “Deck Verified”:

Four, simple categories — Deck Verified will provide gamers concise, easy-to-understand rating tiers to see what games will give them absolutely no grief when it comes to porting from a standard desktop or laptop to the Steam Deck. Within Steam’s store, customers will see one of the following labels in the bottom corner of game titles: Verified, Playable, Unsupported, and Unknown.

Verified, as you can probably imagine, will work perfectly on a Steam Deck, and has been tested for “input, display, performance, and seamlessness.” Playable is reserved for games that, while largely alright, may require a bit of fine-tuning in the settings, or “manual work” like using the on-screen keyboard. “Unsupported” games... well, look, you probably get the gist of it here. Also, things like VR titles will obviously be a no-go on the Steam Deck.

Nothing set in stone — Understandably, these ratings can shift for any given game for a variety of reasons, including “as the developer releases updates, or the Deck’s software improves.” To simply things, however, the Steam store will include a “Great on Deck” section for thoroughly vetted titles.

Speaking of which... judging from the screenshots provided in the brief video, we may get a look at some of the first games that will be fully compatible with the Steam Deck, including Ghostrunner, Portal, Death Stranding, and Hades. So there’s that, at least. Another day, another step closer to Steam Deck’s eventual release.