How about that Steam Machine, ‘ey? Consoles are now computers and computers are now consoles. What a topsy turvy world we’re living in! I’m sure you have lots of questions, a lot of which I hope can be answered by James’ hands-on look at the thing, but you may still be wondering how you’ll know what games will actually work on it. The Steam Deck has its fancy verified badge that certifies that a game runs on the handheld, and it turns out that same badge is one that’ll come in handy for the Steam Machine.
In a stunningly brief blog post from Valve discussing its trio of hardware announcements, there’s also a bit about what this all means for developers. No, don’t run away, it’s relevant to you too! Valve explains that its verified program will be expanded to include both the Steam Machine and the Steam Frame, promising more details soon. However! As they note, “if your games are already Steam Deck Verified, they’ll automatically be verified on Steam Machine.”
Essentially, it does sound like there will be unique verified badges for the Machine and the Frame, but any games you’ve hoarded for your Steam Deck thus far that are Steam Deck verified are already ready to go on that Steam Machine you’ve already bought in your head.
For those of you that actually are developers, Valve also says that they’ve launched a Steam Frame developer kit program. Apparently they’re quite limited, but the company does plan to send kits out on an “ongoing basis.”
So, when the next Steam sale approaches, and you notice that out of your list of 20 games, 17 of them are Deck verified, you can purchase safely knowing that they’ll also be playable on Valve’s sort-of-console. I’m sure this will help with your religious-scripture-length backlog.
