With Valve’s Steam Deck now out in the wild, Microsoft has clarified which of their Steam games will be compatible with the new portable gaming PC, and it’s missing some pretty major titles. While some notable games like Deathloop, Psychonauts 2, Sea of Thieves, and Forza Horizon 5 are supported, you won’t be able to play any Halo games, Gears 5, or Microsoft Flight Simulator X on Steam Deck. According to Microsoft these games won’t be supported “due to anti-cheat.”
Here’s the full list of Verified, playable, and unsupported Microsoft Game Studios titles:
Verified
- Deathloop
- Psychonauts 2
- Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice
- The Evil Within
- Fallout Shelter
- Prey
- Battletoads
- Max: The Curse of Brotherhood
Playable
- Sea of Thieves
- Fallout 4
- Forza Horizon 5
- Forza Horizon 4
- Quantum Break
- State of Decay: YOSE
Unsupported
- Gears 5
- Halo: The Master Chief Collection
- Halo Infinite
- Microsoft Flight Simulator X
Games like Halo MCC, Halo Infinite, and Gears 5 aren’t the first games to give Steam Deck the cold shoulder due to cheating concerns – both Fortnite and Destiny 2 also won’t be playable on the system, with Bungie going so far as to say they’d ban anybody who tried. Both Epic’s Easy Anti-Cheat and BattlEye work on Steam Deck’s version of SteamOS via the Proton compatibility layer, but apparently, the level security isn’t up to the standards of some.
Haven’t been keeping up with the Steam Deck? Wccftech’s Kai Powell found the platform promising, if still early in its evolution in some ways, in his full review…
Steam Deck hits all the marks for a product line in its infancy that only has the potential to grow upwards. As Proton support grows and more titles become Verified over time, I honestly believe that the Steam Deck has the potential of carving out the portable PC market in a way that its predecessors have attempted. This is Valve’s chance to break through to the mainstream audience and establish a brand new hardware line for the company, and it’s made a lasting first impression on me. As the compatibility catalog grows in size, I won’t have any reservations about throwing a Steam Deck in my carry-on luggage instead of a Nintendo Switch. I’ll just have to remember to pack a spare battery or two for those longer flights.
Early Steam Deck units have begun shipping. Valve will ship further units to those who pre-ordered on a first-come, first-served basis.
