Not all but yes most WinOS only games could play just fine on Steam Deck or Steam Machine 2026 through Steam + Proton.

Some WinOS games would not work, such as some games tbat rely on Secure Boot + 3rd party Anti-Cheat for example.

You can easily look up a Steam Proton list. As well as look at Steam Deck + Game Name performance on YouTube

it can play most games from steam library natively

its can also stream games form a capable host pc
using steams remote play or remote play together

Yes Steam Link + Remote play is a good option too. For example if you already have a decent gaming PC and maybe you play games on there such as GTA5 or Red Dead 2... using the steam remote play option would allow you to play those games on Steam Deck and the handling of the game running and the graphics performance would be ran from the main gaming rig.

From steam store
It lists all 3 platforms
Going to save for a future computer that retailers don't have yet. For whatever reason to play a game steam doesn't have yet.
Kinda weird.

Oprindeligt skrevet af ThetaX55:

From steam store
It lists all 3 platforms
Going to save for a future computer that retailers don't have yet. For whatever reason to play a game steam doesn't have yet.
Kinda weird.

wut are you on about?

Oprindeligt skrevet af ThetaX55:

From steam store
It lists all 3 platforms
Going to save for a future computer that retailers don't have yet. For whatever reason to play a game steam doesn't have yet.
Kinda weird.

You may be thinking of Linux native versions. While these are cool they are not needed at all. Linux players usually use Windows version anyway.

Most games on Linux are played through a translation layer called Proton. Close to 100% modern single player Windows games run on Linux. Some online games, with a very specific anti cheat system, don’t work on Linux.

ohh ya steam deck
Kinda want other launchers to.
And homebrew.
Was into web flash games at one time.
I see a good selection of games on andriod now on the mobile search app.
Whatever. Thinking to much.

It works as well as any Linux distro using Proton. So yeah, most games will play. Over 80% (maybe 90%) of all games sold on Steam will run on Linux.

As others have said, the Steam Deck (and also the upcoming Steam Machine and Frame VR) are all running the Linux based Operating System, SteamOS. SteamOS, or any other distribution of Linux, can run Windows games using Steam's Proton function, which is built off of programs like WINE and DXVK to effectively "translate" Windows program / system calls into something Linux can "understand", like converting DirectX into Vulkan.

The main hitch with that approach is with any multiplayer game that uses kernel level anticheat software, like Easy Anticheat or Battleye. Linux, unlike Windows, doesn't easily let a program have that kind of access, but Linux IS supported on both, it just runs at a user level instead of kernel level on them. Developers have to enable that though, otherwise most anticheats, when denied kernel access, will shut you out of the game.

Some games, like Battlefield 6 (Javelin), or Apex Legends (EAC) do not support this approach and if you run them on Linux the anticheat will fail to initiate and boot you from multiplayer. Other games, such as Dead by Daylight, DO support it and will launch no problem.

There's a website to track whether a game's anticheat works on Linux / SteamOS or not, I believe it's called "Are We Anticheat Yet".

If you want, there's another website called "ProtonDB" which is a database of submitted reports on whether a Steam game has any hitches with Linux / SteamOS when ran through Proton.

I want something that actually plays the list of systems and games
Nintendo being one of them.
Think it's a gamesplit.

Oprindeligt skrevet af 55ThetaX55:

I want something that actually plays the list of systems and games
Nintendo being one of them.
Think it's a gamesplit.

Do you mean Nintendo emulators?
SteamOS/Bazzite/Linux have it all.

https://youtu.be/RkwO6ZlP-go?si=OmWVlWMwmqMITbCt