The SteamOS era is imminent: Valve adds a new compatibility rating for games that’ll run on ‘any device that’s not a Steam Deck’

The Steam Deck won’t be the only handheld gaming PC to run Valve’s open source Linux-based operating system later this month, and it looks like we can expect more devices to come in the near future. In preparation for the launch of Lenovo’s Legion Go S with SteamOS, Valve will start rating games on their compatibility with third-party devices.

Valve expects to give the stamp of approval to over 18,000 Steam games to start with, and will include this rating on all the games it checks for Steam Deck compatibility going forward. The compatibility ratings are “based on a subset of the Steam Deck compatibility testing results and are meant to show at a glance whether a game and all of its middleware is supported on Steam OS,” it said in a news post. “This includes features like game functionality, launcher functionality, and anti-cheat support.”

You won’t see the new ratings on Steam unless you’re on a device like the Legion Go S, Valve said. It’ll appear next to the Steam Deck verification status and tell you whether you can run it on SteamOS as well as other important details, like if it requires an internet connection.

Valve says a Deck Verified game will only ever have a SteamOS compatibility rating that is the same or better, so there won’t be any cases where something will run on the Steam Deck but not other devices.

Now that Valve is finally letting SteamOS leave the nest, this seems like a necessity for the rollout to other devices to succeed. The rating system will serve the same purpose as the compatibility details on iOS and Android app store pages. And Valve says this is “just the first step” in helping people understand which games will run on specific devices.

Speaking to French outlet Frandroid in January, Valve developer Pierre-Loup Griffais said it wants the open source software to eventually run on everything from desktop PCs to laptops, but that handhelds are the focus right now. As is common for people who work at a company as lax as Valve, Griffais said there’s “not really” a roadmap for SteamOS’ future on other devices. “It’s when we have the time and we get there,” he said.