Steam Deck compatibility with games is growing, but its not all good news

Date:
Tue, 21 Dec 2021 14:19:27 +0000

Description:
Linux is improving considerably with playing Windows games, but the top 10 Steam titles remain problematic.

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Linux can now run 80% of the top 100 most popular games on Steam using the Proton compatibility layer , and therefore by extension the same is true of the SteamOS (Linux) powered Steam Deck .

This fresh milestone was reported by ProtonDB, which keeps track of compatibility via reports from gamers. At the time of writing, exactly 80% of Windows games are ranked as Gold for Proton compatibility, which means that the titles in question run perfectly after a little tweaking (games which run perfectly with no tweaking needed at all are rated Platinum).

Essentially, Gold ratings (or above) are what youre looking for in order to ensure that a game is a smooth experience with Proton, as Silver-rated
titles, while being generally playable, have some issues.

Ratings are based on player reports as mentioned, and out of 21,244 games which have been reported and included in ProtonDBs stats , 17,649 work via Proton. Analysis: Still work to do with the cream of the Steam crop

Obviously having more top games creep into the fold of those covered by
Proton compatibility is great news, and Battlefield V is an example of one of the top 100 games which has recently been promoted to the Gold tier from Silver.

This progress makes sense, of course, given that since Valve first revealed the Steam Deck (which is due to land in February 2022 ), the company said it was going to work hard on Proton, as this is the engine of the handheld PCs operating system when it comes to getting Windows games working on the
device. Its a crucially important aspect of the Steam Deck, then, so its no wonder Valve has promised to push hard with refining Protons powers.

While 80% of the top 100 games are now fully functional with Proton (at least reportedly), the top 10 on Steam is a much thornier area in that six of them dont play ball. That includes Halo Infinite, Apex Legends, Destiny 2 and Amazons New World, as well as PUBG. The latter battle royale could become an even more complex issue when it switches to free-to-play and introduces new anti-cheat measures to potentially throw further spanners in the works .
(Apex Legends is also hamstrung by its anti-cheat on Proton, still, as are
New World and Destiny 2 going by the reports on ProtonDB).

Its not going to look great for Valve if it cant get some of these big
hitters working on the Steam Deck when it launches, particularly with PUBG as with it going free in January, a lot more folks are going to be keen to give it a spin (Apex Legends is also free-to-play, of course). Naturally, work on Proton is an ongoing process, so fingers crossed those percentages keep ticking up on ProtonDB. Check out the best gaming PCs currently out there

Via Neowin



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Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/news/steam-deck-compatibility-with-games-is-growing- but-its-not-all-good-news/


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