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Steam Deck hits 17,000 games playable and verified

80 points by WhyNotHugo 2y ago

LorenDB 2y ago
The best part is that every game that runs on the Steam Deck will run on any Linux desktop.
- hedora 2y ago
  I’ve hit a few counterexamples. Is there a good way to escalate bugs for them? (Most of the issues are in GPU firmware, fwiw.)
  - Scramblejams 2y ago
    Look for an open issue for the game in question under here[0]. If one exists, add your report to it. If not, open a new one. [0] https://github.com/valvesoftware/proton/issues https://github.com/valvesoftware/proton/issues
- stackskipton 2y ago
  IME, it’s more a mixed bag. Some games run great on Linux or within Proton. Others seem to be more Steam Deck focused and as such, require more fiddling to get it to work.
  - Scramblejams 2y ago
    If you’re using Nvidia you’re definitely going to have a harder time. AMD GPUs are the path of least resistance. Edit: Also, avoid the Steam flatpak if you want maximum compatibility, sometimes it has issues. I stick with the official .deb package.
    - stackskipton 2y ago
      Which my gaming PC has. I went from Windows 11, Ubuntu Latest and back to Windows 11.
      - Scramblejams 2y ago
        Sorry, which one does your PC have? But yeah, the Nvidia situation is a bummer. Hopefully NVK will do for Nvidia users what the open source amdgpu driver did for AMD users.
        stackskipton 2y ago
        It's RTX 4070 Ti
        rounce 2y ago
        Have you tried the GE fork? I’ve found some things just won’t work with vanilla proton with my Nvidia card. https://github.com/GloriousEggroll/proton-ge-custom https://github.com/GloriousEggroll/proton-ge-custom
        stackskipton 2y ago
        I'm done. I hate Windows 11 but my PC works with it installed so I'll just deal with Windows 11 minor bullshit vs fighting Proton and Nvidia.
  - dingnuts 2y ago
    care to share any examples? your experience is the opposite of mine. I've been using the steam deck status as a shorthand for Linux support for a little while and if anything I've gotten a few games running that aren't supported, not the other way around. I have an AMD card though, because I always check Linux compatibility before buying hardware..
    - geor9e 2y ago
      Here's the list of games playable on Deck but generally not Linux https://www.protondb.com/explore?sort=fixWanted&selectedFilters=whitelisted&selectedFilters=excludeNative https://www.protondb.com/explore?sort=fixWanted&selectedFilt...
- geor9e 2y ago
  "every game". That's not true. You're confusing the two different badges Steam uses. One is the native Linux support badge. The other is the Steam Deck verified badge, meaning their custom build of Proton, and custom OS, and hardware specific compatibility fixes have made the (usually Windows native) game playable. It's a good sign for other Linux users, but even if you get the newest version of generic Proton and use Arch Linux and an AMD GPU, you're not going to be able to play every game that Deck can play. The community and valve engineers are giving the Deck the most attention for fixes.
  - aaomidi 2y ago
    Do you have an example of a game that only runs on steam deck and nothing else?
    - geor9e 2y ago
      "and nothing else" - I just want to point out I never said this. My point was that there are thousands of combinations of linux distros, hardware models, and proton versions/settings, so just because it works on the super-popular combo doesn't mean it works on all. But here is a list of Deck Verified games with a lot of frustrated Linux users https://www.protondb.com/explore?sort=fixWanted&selectedFilters=whitelisted&selectedFilters=excludeNative https://www.protondb.com/explore?sort=fixWanted&selectedFilt...
      - aaomidi 2y ago
        Did a spot check of that list, and everything seems to be issues you'd run into on Steam Deck too - for what its worth. I've been running linux as my main OS since 2018ish now - I've personally not ran into games like what you mentioned but IDK there definitely is some, but I don't think in titles people are going to be playing.
- mistyvales 2y ago
  Been playing Steam games on Fedora and AMD GPU for over a year and haven't really run into any major issues. Never thought it would happen! I haven't booted into Windows in over six months
  - hnbear 2y ago
    I wish I'd had the same experience, although I was using Pop not Fedora (based on some recommendations found online) I installed a couple of games, found that the performance was maybe only 60% of what I got on Windows and had to go back. I wish I could be linux only, but it just wasn't there for me. Running a 6900XT too.
    - tapoxi 2y ago
      Were you using the Flatpak? Apparently the sandboxing introduces performance issues.
      - hnbear 2y ago
        I can't remember, I gave it a go for a couple of days, switching between Win and Linux installs to make sure settings and the like where the same to be fair. In the end perf was bad, so wiped that drive and now it has more games on it.
        tapoxi 2y ago
        I've been on Bazzite for a few months on my machine (7800 XT) with Windows on a secondary partition. Of the games I've tested Linux performance is identical, but Steam can precompile shaders in the background on Linux which eliminates compilation stutter.
- mamcx 2y ago
  And how is with Macos now? I see it is kinda supported, but ...
  - sincarne 2y ago
    Give Whisky a shot. Yeah, it’s a 20 year old game, but I was able to get Half-Life 2 running at 1080p with all settings maxed on my Mac Mini. The only slow down I experienced was when a bunch of barrels exploded at the same time. https://getwhisky.app/ https://getwhisky.app/
slopeloaf 2y ago
Steam Deck is the reason I’ve finally beat so many games on my backlog. Being able to pick up and play while on the couch, before bed, or just bring it traveling. Fantastic. I basically only buy games that are playable or verified on the Steam Deck these days.
emcell 2y ago
this is really good news!
sli 2y ago
This is a very conservative number, as well, since ProtonDB is always much further ahead of Steam. Many games are labeled Unverified or Unsupported that have gold status or better on ProtonDB. The article doesn't mention this, but I imagine for the average person, Valve's own ratings are far more relevant.
- jsheard 2y ago
  OTOH ProtonDBs ratings can be a bit generous, it's not uncommon to see Gold/Platinum rated games with comments detailing the command line incantations or unofficial Proton forks they had to apply to get it to work, and sometimes there's still minor issues. The official ratings mean it really just works out of the box.
- Ferret7446 2y ago
  There are a lot of games that are marked broken on Steam Deck that work fine. On the flip side, there are some games that are marked verified that aren't... exactly playable. They run fine, but they weren't designed for controllers (which IMO should affect the rating, given that they mark down more trivial issues like small text or needing the on screen keyboard to enter a name once).
lynndotpy 2y ago
Wow, that's about ~12,000 games just about a year ago. 5000 in one year -- a 40% increase -- is huge. I did a lot of gaming in 2020, and it felt like games then just ran on Linux as a rule rather than an exception, thanks to Proton. Congratulations to Valve on the rapid pace of milestones, and congratulations to Windows 8 (the original impetus for Valve's investment in Linux gaming) for kickstarting the impossible.
- viraptor 2y ago
  It's the nice side of the project running for so long. At first, lots of extra work was needed for the support for each extra title. Now they have so much coverage that every compatibility fix likely unlocks more then one game, so the numbers just keep growing.
- whazor 2y ago
  Its actually very impressive when you consider that the Playstation has less than 5000 games overall. And Switch has around 4761 games listed on Wikipedia. Now Sony and Nintendo have nice exclusive games, but Steamdeck gained more supported games in a year than that these consoles have at all.
ugjka 2y ago
Too bad I'm no longer young, my 16 year old self would have had a blast
- jitl 2y ago
  What does age have to do with it?
  - funkyfourier 2y ago
    Available time.
  - deleted 2y ago
    [deleted]
  - alexjplant 2y ago
    I can only speak to living in rural suburbia USA but when I was 15 my hobbies were severely limited by the lack of independence. No ability to drive, part-time employment, academic busywork and parental oversight severely curtailed the range of experiences I was able to enjoy. This somewhat continued into college as I had to spend breaks working full-time to pay for tuition and housing. In these types of circumstances video games are a great hobby because they're affordable social experiences that don't require travel. Now that I'm fortunate enough to be liberated from these considerations I choose to do more expensive outgoing things like backpacking, going to festivals, trying new restaurants, biking, etc. I make occasional exceptions but these days I try and stay away from video games; it'll be easier to catch up on all the games that I missed when I'm retired in 30 years and don't feel like walking 20 miles in a weekend.
    - jitl 2y ago
      For sure I get that, and same. I mostly play games these days on Steam Deck as a wind-down activity that competes with reading a book or watching a YouTube video. It doesn’t complete with high energy activities anymore.
  - 01HNNWZ0MV43FF 2y ago
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
AlwaysRock 2y ago
I can count on one hand the number of games I've wanted to play on my steam deck and have been unable to. If you play a lot of games and have the extra cash, a steam deck is a great buy. If you are into rougelikes/lites its probably the best possible setup imaginable. Being able to play a run or two on the couch or on a plane is incredible.
pluc 2y ago
Valve is the best thing that happened to Linux since Ubuntu.
ilrwbwrkhv 2y ago
Valve >>>> FAANG or literally any other tech company.
singularity2001 2y ago
How many of these run on Mac via Asahi Linux?
- davely 2y ago
  Hmm, does Asahi Linux translate between x86 / x64 and ARM layers (e.g., similar to Rosetta on MacOS)? If not, I can’t imagine it’s all that many. (If Valve can somehow find a way to nail that, I imagine that’ll be a huge boon for portable PC gaming.)
  - singularity2001 2y ago
    Found answer: https://asahilinux.org/2024/10/aaa-gaming-on-asahi-linux/ https://asahilinux.org/2024/10/aaa-gaming-on-asahi-linux/ FEX emulates x86 on Arm. Wine translates Windows to Linux. DXVK and vkd3d-proton translate DirectX to Vulkan.

80 points by WhyNotHugo 2y ago

LorenDB 2y ago

The best part is that every game that runs on the Steam Deck will run on any Linux desktop.

hedora 2y ago
I’ve hit a few counterexamples. Is there a good way to escalate bugs for them? (Most of the issues are in GPU firmware, fwiw.)
- Scramblejams 2y ago
  Look for an open issue for the game in question under here[0]. If one exists, add your report to it. If not, open a new one. [0] https://github.com/valvesoftware/proton/issues https://github.com/valvesoftware/proton/issues
stackskipton 2y ago
IME, it’s more a mixed bag. Some games run great on Linux or within Proton. Others seem to be more Steam Deck focused and as such, require more fiddling to get it to work.
- Scramblejams 2y ago
  If you’re using Nvidia you’re definitely going to have a harder time. AMD GPUs are the path of least resistance. Edit: Also, avoid the Steam flatpak if you want maximum compatibility, sometimes it has issues. I stick with the official .deb package.
  - stackskipton 2y ago
    Which my gaming PC has. I went from Windows 11, Ubuntu Latest and back to Windows 11.
    - Scramblejams 2y ago
      Sorry, which one does your PC have? But yeah, the Nvidia situation is a bummer. Hopefully NVK will do for Nvidia users what the open source amdgpu driver did for AMD users.
      - stackskipton 2y ago
        It's RTX 4070 Ti
        rounce 2y ago
        Have you tried the GE fork? I’ve found some things just won’t work with vanilla proton with my Nvidia card. https://github.com/GloriousEggroll/proton-ge-custom https://github.com/GloriousEggroll/proton-ge-custom
        stackskipton 2y ago
        I'm done. I hate Windows 11 but my PC works with it installed so I'll just deal with Windows 11 minor bullshit vs fighting Proton and Nvidia.
- dingnuts 2y ago
  care to share any examples? your experience is the opposite of mine. I've been using the steam deck status as a shorthand for Linux support for a little while and if anything I've gotten a few games running that aren't supported, not the other way around. I have an AMD card though, because I always check Linux compatibility before buying hardware..
  - geor9e 2y ago
    Here's the list of games playable on Deck but generally not Linux https://www.protondb.com/explore?sort=fixWanted&selectedFilters=whitelisted&selectedFilters=excludeNative https://www.protondb.com/explore?sort=fixWanted&selectedFilt...
geor9e 2y ago
"every game". That's not true. You're confusing the two different badges Steam uses. One is the native Linux support badge. The other is the Steam Deck verified badge, meaning their custom build of Proton, and custom OS, and hardware specific compatibility fixes have made the (usually Windows native) game playable. It's a good sign for other Linux users, but even if you get the newest version of generic Proton and use Arch Linux and an AMD GPU, you're not going to be able to play every game that Deck can play. The community and valve engineers are giving the Deck the most attention for fixes.
- aaomidi 2y ago
  Do you have an example of a game that only runs on steam deck and nothing else?
  - geor9e 2y ago
    "and nothing else" - I just want to point out I never said this. My point was that there are thousands of combinations of linux distros, hardware models, and proton versions/settings, so just because it works on the super-popular combo doesn't mean it works on all. But here is a list of Deck Verified games with a lot of frustrated Linux users https://www.protondb.com/explore?sort=fixWanted&selectedFilters=whitelisted&selectedFilters=excludeNative https://www.protondb.com/explore?sort=fixWanted&selectedFilt...
    - aaomidi 2y ago
      Did a spot check of that list, and everything seems to be issues you'd run into on Steam Deck too - for what its worth. I've been running linux as my main OS since 2018ish now - I've personally not ran into games like what you mentioned but IDK there definitely is some, but I don't think in titles people are going to be playing.
mistyvales 2y ago
Been playing Steam games on Fedora and AMD GPU for over a year and haven't really run into any major issues. Never thought it would happen! I haven't booted into Windows in over six months
- hnbear 2y ago
  I wish I'd had the same experience, although I was using Pop not Fedora (based on some recommendations found online) I installed a couple of games, found that the performance was maybe only 60% of what I got on Windows and had to go back. I wish I could be linux only, but it just wasn't there for me. Running a 6900XT too.
  - tapoxi 2y ago
    Were you using the Flatpak? Apparently the sandboxing introduces performance issues.
    - hnbear 2y ago
      I can't remember, I gave it a go for a couple of days, switching between Win and Linux installs to make sure settings and the like where the same to be fair. In the end perf was bad, so wiped that drive and now it has more games on it.
      - tapoxi 2y ago
        I've been on Bazzite for a few months on my machine (7800 XT) with Windows on a secondary partition. Of the games I've tested Linux performance is identical, but Steam can precompile shaders in the background on Linux which eliminates compilation stutter.
mamcx 2y ago
And how is with Macos now? I see it is kinda supported, but ...
- sincarne 2y ago
  Give Whisky a shot. Yeah, it’s a 20 year old game, but I was able to get Half-Life 2 running at 1080p with all settings maxed on my Mac Mini. The only slow down I experienced was when a bunch of barrels exploded at the same time. https://getwhisky.app/ https://getwhisky.app/

slopeloaf 2y ago

Steam Deck is the reason I’ve finally beat so many games on my backlog. Being able to pick up and play while on the couch, before bed, or just bring it traveling. Fantastic. I basically only buy games that are playable or verified on the Steam Deck these days.

emcell 2y ago

this is really good news!

sli 2y ago

This is a very conservative number, as well, since ProtonDB is always much further ahead of Steam. Many games are labeled Unverified or Unsupported that have gold status or better on ProtonDB. The article doesn't mention this, but I imagine for the average person, Valve's own ratings are far more relevant.

jsheard 2y ago
OTOH ProtonDBs ratings can be a bit generous, it's not uncommon to see Gold/Platinum rated games with comments detailing the command line incantations or unofficial Proton forks they had to apply to get it to work, and sometimes there's still minor issues. The official ratings mean it really just works out of the box.
Ferret7446 2y ago
There are a lot of games that are marked broken on Steam Deck that work fine. On the flip side, there are some games that are marked verified that aren't... exactly playable. They run fine, but they weren't designed for controllers (which IMO should affect the rating, given that they mark down more trivial issues like small text or needing the on screen keyboard to enter a name once).

lynndotpy 2y ago

Wow, that's about ~12,000 games just about a year ago. 5000 in one year -- a 40% increase -- is huge. I did a lot of gaming in 2020, and it felt like games then just ran on Linux as a rule rather than an exception, thanks to Proton. Congratulations to Valve on the rapid pace of milestones, and congratulations to Windows 8 (the original impetus for Valve's investment in Linux gaming) for kickstarting the impossible.

viraptor 2y ago
It's the nice side of the project running for so long. At first, lots of extra work was needed for the support for each extra title. Now they have so much coverage that every compatibility fix likely unlocks more then one game, so the numbers just keep growing.
whazor 2y ago
Its actually very impressive when you consider that the Playstation has less than 5000 games overall. And Switch has around 4761 games listed on Wikipedia. Now Sony and Nintendo have nice exclusive games, but Steamdeck gained more supported games in a year than that these consoles have at all.

ugjka 2y ago

Too bad I'm no longer young, my 16 year old self would have had a blast

jitl 2y ago
What does age have to do with it?
- funkyfourier 2y ago
  Available time.
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
- alexjplant 2y ago
  I can only speak to living in rural suburbia USA but when I was 15 my hobbies were severely limited by the lack of independence. No ability to drive, part-time employment, academic busywork and parental oversight severely curtailed the range of experiences I was able to enjoy. This somewhat continued into college as I had to spend breaks working full-time to pay for tuition and housing. In these types of circumstances video games are a great hobby because they're affordable social experiences that don't require travel. Now that I'm fortunate enough to be liberated from these considerations I choose to do more expensive outgoing things like backpacking, going to festivals, trying new restaurants, biking, etc. I make occasional exceptions but these days I try and stay away from video games; it'll be easier to catch up on all the games that I missed when I'm retired in 30 years and don't feel like walking 20 miles in a weekend.
  - jitl 2y ago
    For sure I get that, and same. I mostly play games these days on Steam Deck as a wind-down activity that competes with reading a book or watching a YouTube video. It doesn’t complete with high energy activities anymore.
- 01HNNWZ0MV43FF 2y ago

deleted 2y ago

[deleted]

AlwaysRock 2y ago

I can count on one hand the number of games I've wanted to play on my steam deck and have been unable to. If you play a lot of games and have the extra cash, a steam deck is a great buy. If you are into rougelikes/lites its probably the best possible setup imaginable. Being able to play a run or two on the couch or on a plane is incredible.

pluc 2y ago

Valve is the best thing that happened to Linux since Ubuntu.

ilrwbwrkhv 2y ago

Valve >>>> FAANG or literally any other tech company.

singularity2001 2y ago

How many of these run on Mac via Asahi Linux?

davely 2y ago
Hmm, does Asahi Linux translate between x86 / x64 and ARM layers (e.g., similar to Rosetta on MacOS)? If not, I can’t imagine it’s all that many. (If Valve can somehow find a way to nail that, I imagine that’ll be a huge boon for portable PC gaming.)
- singularity2001 2y ago
  Found answer: https://asahilinux.org/2024/10/aaa-gaming-on-asahi-linux/ https://asahilinux.org/2024/10/aaa-gaming-on-asahi-linux/ FEX emulates x86 on Arm. Wine translates Windows to Linux. DXVK and vkd3d-proton translate DirectX to Vulkan.