Valve Clarifies Game Compatibility with New "SteamOS Compatible" Tag
Valve is stepping in to cut through that confusion. Following their recent announcement to port SteamOS to other firms' handheld consoles, they're now introducing a new method of seeing game compatibility on Steam itself.
A New Tag is Coming to Town: "SteamOS Compatible"
Soon enough, you'll start seeing a new tag on games in your Steam library. This will show you if a game is "Supported" or "Not Supported" on SteamOS. It's no longer just about the Steam Deck; it's about any device that can potentially support Valve's operating system. Think about future devices like the Lenovo Legion Go S – a $500 handheld that arrives this month and will feature SteamOS. While it's among the first, we can probably expect to see more.
Valve explained what they were doing: "If a game and any accompanying software is supported, it will be marked as 'Supported', else as 'Not Supported'." They also set an important expectation: this rating will not account for how good a game will play or handle with controls on any individual hardware. That's not an easy achievement, considering that Valve themselves state that they "do not know (and cannot test) how the game will perform on all possible devices." Their initial guess? Over 18,000 games on Steam are going to get this SteamOS stamp of compatibility right away.
What Do Game Developers Have to Do?
Here's a bit better news for game developers: not much. If a game has already been through the Steam Deck validation process, it will simply get its SteamOS compatibility score automatically. Valve will be testing out the games themselves, focusing on the ones the community cares most about. This step appears to be an open gesture by Valve to turn SteamOS into a more ubiquitous and consumer-friendly platform for handheld gaming, no matter who makes the hardware.
