A large portion of Steam’s most popular games is said to be compatible with the developing gaming platform, Steam Deck.
The Steam Deck may still be around the corner for a full release, following the recent announcement of a delay from the initial target date. Shifting from the supposed holiday launch to a February 2022 release. A gap that inevitably leaves many to wonder how the device is progressing. But while nobody outside of Valve would rightfully be holding the new gaming handheld anytime soon, it doesn’t imply that the developers are not hands-on on it. More accurately, the engineers at Valve are a lot more involved in the machine’s development as it gets nearer to a delayed launch.
Greater compatibility
One of the latest developments to hit the internet comes in the number of titles that the Steam Deck is capable of running. However, it does not just involve a large number that covers Steam’s otherwise vast library. The special attention is set solely to the top 100 Steam games that the platform is now capable of running—80 of them, in particular.
But what is stopping the Steam Deck to get comprehensive compatibility with at least Steam’s top 100 games? At this point, the public is already aware that the SteamOS is quite selective in the games it can run by default. This primarily boils down to inconsistency with known Anti-Cheat software. Essentially, this automatically suggests that games like Apex Legends, Destiny 2, Halo Infinite, PUBG, etc. are currently out of the picture.
Better optimization
The Steam Deck may still be technically going through essential improvements right now. But this does not mean that Valve is without a working sample that serves as its benchmarking tool for the polish. While hardware plays a good part of it, part also of the overall design is the software. Which is partly that front-facing interface that users get to interact with and the unseen algorithm that gives its processing. In other words, the very same software that powers the Steam Deck’s operating system and its capabilities. This speaks to little else but mainly Proton.
The option to ditch Proton’s conflict with Anti-Cheat software for greater compatibility with games may be out of the question. But it appears that the focus right now is on optimizing the Steam Deck for the games it will be running. This is well more than enough to mind considering Steam’s vast library, even at the expense of no exclusives at launch.
Image used courtesy of Valve/YouTube Screenshot