Steam Deck support improvements delayed for Rimworld due to ongoing Ukraine conflict

Rimworld developers have stated that Steam Deck updates to help the game run better on the platform have been delayed. This is due to Russia's current attack on Ukraine, which happens to be where the developer who was working on these updates lives.

In an update on the Rimworld Steam community page, a blogpost explains that while Rimworld technically runs on the newly released Steam Deck, it could use a few fixes. Mostly it sounds like the game is fine, and fairly playable. However, a few UI troubles and some general issues are hampering the experience, and due to the current situation those fixes are understandably delayed.

The post explains that initially it took extra time to get a Steam Deck to this Ukrainian developer, and now the Russian invasion on his home country has clearly made things worse. Piotr Walczac, Rimworld's tech lead has stepped in to help lead the Steam Deck integration, but they're understandably not expecting a speedy turnaround on that patch.

Hearteningly, the comment section didn't let me down this time. Almost all the responses are from well wishers hoping for the safety of this dev and their loved ones, as well as an end to the war. These are sentiments that are clearly much more important than how well the UI works on Valve's new portable console.

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This is thankfully also echoed among much of the gaming and tech community, with game studios banding together to support Ukraine during the invasion. SpaceX has helped provide satellite internet to help with communications in the country and Ubisoft has donated emergency housing and funding to the cause. Stalker devs have halted production and are seeking donations and the folks behind Euro Truck Simulator are releasing DLC to raise money.

These efforts are unlikely to stop as more studios and companies jump on the cause, and it appears to be helping. Ukraine has even officially asked the games and esports industry to temporarily pull support from Russia, including banning esports teams from competition.

Hope’s been writing about games for about a decade, starting out way back when on the Australian Nintendo fan site Vooks.net. Since then, she’s talked far too much about games and tech for publications such as Techlife, Byteside, IGN, and GameSpot. Of course there’s also here at PC Gamer, where she gets to indulge her inner hardware nerd with news and reviews. You can usually find Hope fawning over some art, tech, or likely a wonderful combination of them both and where relevant she’ll share them with you here. When she’s not writing about the amazing creations of others, she’s working on what she hopes will one day be her own. You can find her fictional chill out ambient far future sci-fi radio show/album/listening experience podcast right here.

No, she’s not kidding.