Valve's Steam Machine Verification is a Black Box for Power Users
AI-generated image · Bay Street Wire
The new living room hardware promises more power than the Steam Deck, but Valve's silence on compatibility for demanding titles leaves buyers guessing.
Valve is expanding its compatibility rating system to the newly released Steam Machine, but for the games that actually matter to power users, the company is offering a resounding void.
As reported by Ars Technica, Valve has introduced a separate rating system for the Steam Machine to determine playability on the living room-focused hardware. While the system is now appearing on Steam store pages via a “Learn More” link, it is failing the most critical test: identifying which graphically intensive games that failed on the Steam Deck will actually run on the more powerful Steam Machine.
According to Ars Technica, the logic for the simple cases is straightforward. Games already verified for the Steam Deck are seemingly guaranteed to be verified for the Steam Machine. Conversely, titles confirmed as non-functional on SteamOS will remain non-functional on the new hardware.
Theo's Take: Valve is playing a dangerous game of silence here. The entire value proposition of the Steam Machine is its increased power over the portable Deck. By leaving the most demanding titles as "Unknown," Valve is essentially asking users to gamble their money on the hope that the hardware upgrade actually translates to playability.
The real issue lies in the "messy middle." Ars Technica notes that many titles are listed as "Unsupported" on the Steam Deck because they cannot meet the 1200×800, 30 fps standard at default settings. For the Steam Machine, the requirement jumps to 1080p at 30 fps.
Despite the hardware leap, Ars Technica found that every graphically unsupported Steam Deck game they tested is currently listed with an "Unknown" compatibility status for the Steam Machine. In these instances, Valve states it is "still learning about" the game and possesses no further information. This includes a significant list of titles, some of which have been on Steam's Top Sellers list, such as:
– Starfield
– Elden Ring Nightreign
– Black Myth Wukong
– Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora
– Final Fantasy XVI
– Horizon: Forbidden West
– Dragon’s Dogma 2
– Stalker 2
There are some minor wins in the update. Ars Technica reports that games labeled "Playable" on the Steam Deck due to text being too small for a handheld—such as Lies of P and 007: First Light—have been bumped to "Verified" for the Steam Machine since they are played on a larger TV. Separately, games that Valve rates "Playable" on Steam Deck for requiring an on-screen keyboard still carry a similar warning on the Steam Machine.
Ars Technica reached out to a Valve representative for comment, but they were unavailable to respond.