When browsing through the Steam store for games on your Steam Deck, there is a useful ‘Steam Deck Verified' tag that confirms that the game is fully playable on the Steam Deck. There’s also the ‘Playable’ rating, which essentially means it’s close enough. Up until now, users who put SteamOS on other devices have sometimes struggled with knowing how well a game will work with their device directly on the Steam store. All that is about to change, however.

Valve has announced a new compatibility rating system for SteamOS devices. With the impending arrival of the Legion Go S SteamOS version, this new system is designed to help players make decisions on what games to buy or install on their handhelds, whether that is the Steam Deck, Legion Go S, or another SteamOS device.

• Lenovo – Legion Go S 8″ SteamOS 120Hz Gaming Handheld – AMD Ryzen Z2 Go
• Lenovo – Legion Go S 8″ SteamOS 120Hz Gaming Handheld – AMD Ryzen Z1 Extreme

SteamOS compatibility rating comes to Steam

SteamOS Compatibility ratings are based on testing results that can show at a glance if a game and all its accompanying middleware are supported by SteamOS. This includes game functionality, the launcher, and anti-cheat support.

Games that meet all the testing requirements will be marked as ‘SteamOS Compatible'. Otherwise, they will be listed as SteamOS Unsupported. This rating does not include any results on performance and output. This is because it is impractical to individually check how all games will run on all the different available hardware.

Developers will not need to take any action, as the Steam Deck compatibility rating will be rolled into the new system using an automated process. The same queue system will still apply for newly submitted titles.

This new rating system will roll out over the next few weeks. Those using SteamOS devices will soon see these new ratings show up in the Steam Store and Steam Client. Over 18,000 titles on Steam are expected to be marked as SteamOS compatible under the new system.

Further information on this update can be found on the Steam website.

About the Author

Rebecca Hills-Duty

Writing and journalism experience at VRFocus, UploadVR, The Escapist, HTC, PC Gamer, Tech Radar+ and Dexerto. Can sometimes be found playing with retro tech.