Steam Deck Not Supporting Games that used to be verified or playable?

[MiladyLoki]

This is just something that I had noticed while using the Steam Deck (been using it since it's release), and I haven't really seen anyone else discussing this (if there is, I missed it), so I wanted to check to see if anyone else was noticing this as well. When the Steam Deck gets it's regular updates, do games that were once verified or playable become unsupported?

I could swear that I had games I played on it when the deck first came out, and had even made categories to separate the unsupported from verified and playable (which I later deleted when I noticed you could just use a filter lol), like Tales of Berseria, Hitman, Final Fantasy V (not the newer one, but the older version), Clicker Heroes, Batman: Arkham Asylum, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, all of which were either verified or playable. Now, they have become unsupported. I especially remember playing the two star wars games on it when the deck was first released, as well as Clicker Heroes. There are others that I haven't mentioned. I also have noticed that when some newer games are released (not all) that they are sometimes marked 'playable', like Star Wars: Jedi Survivor and Sons of the Forest (both of which I played when they were released, on the deck), but then right after an update, they too became unsupported. I have over 1000 games on my account (many categorised as playable or unverified, some unsupported of course), and I noticed that in the 'Great on Deck' tab (the verified ones), the number is now only 281, where it used to be in the 300's.

Is this something that is going to keep happening (I'm guessing probably)? Will the developers bring these games back to verified or playable status? I just don't want to suddenly see a large amount of games that I was intending to play on the deck suddenly becoming unsupported, since the purpose of the Steam Deck (in my point of view) was to allow games in the Steam library to be played cross-platform (think that's the word I'm looking for lol) and to find solutions to making unsupported games become verified or playable, rather than removing already verified and playable games by making them unsupported. Who exactly determines the verification of a game? What guidelines do they follow while testing the games out in order to determine if a game is supported or not? Obviously, there are a TON of Steam games, so it could take forever to verify games or determine if a game is fit for the Steam Deck, I just find it strange when a game that has already been marked as verified or playable then suddenly becomes unsupported.

Again, this is just something I have noticed, and am wondering if anyone else has? I'm not knowledgeable about everything that has been going on with the Steam Deck, I don't read news about it, I'm just someone who just happens to like to play on it a lot and I try to plan out what games to try on it next. I could be just completely loosing my mind.

[cSg|mc-Hotsauce]

Most of them are Ubi and their ridiculous Ubi Connect updates that keep breaking support without using workarounds.

[WarnerCK]

Originally posted by MiladyLoki:

Who exactly determines the verification of a game?

Valve are in charge of whether the games get the tick or not. Game developers are in charge of whether the games work or not.

What guidelines do they follow while testing the games out in order to determine if a game is supported or not?

https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/steamdeck/compat

Obviously, there are a TON of Steam games, so it could take forever to verify games or determine if a game is fit for the Steam Deck, I just find it strange when a game that has already been marked as verified or playable then suddenly becomes unsupported.

It is entirely unsustainable in the long term to have Valve testing games and game developers breaking games. Customers that have bought games that worked are left in the lurch when they get broken, and Valve's testers get tangled up in re-testing rather than testing the ~35 new games released on Steam every day. Valve needs (and recommends, and provides instructions for) game developers to test their games themselves, and to choose not to break them. For that to happen, there needs to be a big upside (sales, marketing, other PR) to having their games work, and a big downside (customer pushback, refunds) when the game developer breaks it. And for that to be the case, there need to be a lot more Decks in a lot more people's hands. Whether the Deck will ever reach that tipping point where there can be confidence in the Deck Verified ratings no one can say for sure.

[MiladyLoki]

Originally posted by WarnerCK:

Originally posted by MiladyLoki:

Who exactly determines the verification of a game?

Valve are in charge of whether the games get the tick or not. Game developers are in charge of whether the games work or not.

What guidelines do they follow while testing the games out in order to determine if a game is supported or not?

https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/steamdeck/compat

Obviously, there are a TON of Steam games, so it could take forever to verify games or determine if a game is fit for the Steam Deck, I just find it strange when a game that has already been marked as verified or playable then suddenly becomes unsupported.

It is entirely unsustainable in the long term to have Valve testing games and game developers breaking games. Customers that have bought games that worked are left in the lurch when they get broken, and Valve's testers get tangled up in re-testing rather than testing the ~35 new games released on Steam every day. Valve needs (and recommends, and provides instructions for) game developers to test their games themselves, and to choose not to break them. For that to happen, there needs to be a big upside (sales, marketing, other PR) to having their games work, and a big downside (customer pushback, refunds) when the game developer breaks it. And for that to be the case, there need to be a lot more Decks in a lot more people's hands. Whether the Deck will ever reach that tipping point where there can be confidence in the Deck Verified ratings no one can say for sure.

Ahhh thanks for clarifying! ☺️

[Punkovich]

Originally posted by MiladyLoki:

I could swear that I had games I played on it when the deck first came out, and had even made categories to separate the unsupported from verified and playable (which I later deleted when I noticed you could just use a filter lol), like Tales of Berseria, Hitman, Final Fantasy V (not the newer one, but the older version), Clicker Heroes, Batman: Arkham Asylum, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, all of which were either verified or playable. Now, they have become unsupported. I especially remember playing the two star wars games on it when the deck was first released, as well as Clicker Heroes. There are others that I haven't mentioned. I also have noticed that when some newer games are released (not all) that they are sometimes marked 'playable', like Star Wars: Jedi Survivor and Sons of the Forest (both of which I played when they were released, on the deck), but then right after an update, they too became unsupported. I have over 1000 games on my account (many categorised as playable or unverified, some unsupported of course), and I noticed that in the 'Great on Deck' tab (the verified ones), the number is now only 281, where it used to be in the 300's.

Although it is possible to go from verified>playable>unsupported, as far as I can tell, none of the specific games you mention here have ever had an official verified or playable status. No doubt you were able to run them as the official status means practically nothing, most games that are marked unsupported will run just fine, or sometimes need a little tinkering.

If the verification status is important to you for some reason: checkmydeck.ofdgn.com keeps a database of games and their status changes/dates of change.

[MiladyLoki]

Thanks! ☺️

[invision2212]

Batman Arkham asylum was never verified. The game works tho as I played it from start to finish on deck. However you need to install proton-ge for it to work.