Handheld decks

[Tzarbazar]

With the rise in handheld decks, (ASUS Rog and now MSI handheld) I feel like the Steam Deck would benefit from being able to use other gaming services like Epic Games natively rather than having to implement work arounds that don't work that well.

I really like the Steam deck and how to feels but it's frustrating that I can't utilise Epic Games fully (and it's frustrating how long it took to get it even in the Steam Library on the deck).

I know it's not as simple as adding Epic Games link and a lot of discussions and agreements would be required. But it would ensure users/customers are likely to select a Steam Deck over the competitors 😊

[cSg|mc-Hotsauce]

Originally posted by Tzarbazar:

Handheld decks

With the rise in handheld decks, (ASUS Rog and now MSI handheld) I feel like the Steam Deck would benefit from being able to use other gaming services like Epic Games natively rather than having to implement work arounds that don't work that well.

I really like the Steam deck and how to feels but it's frustrating that I can't utilise Epic Games fully (and it's frustrating how long it took to get it even in the Steam Library on the deck).

I know it's not as simple as adding Epic Games link and a lot of discussions and agreements would be required. But it would ensure users/customers are likely to select a Steam Deck over the competitors 😊

Most services aren't too keen on adding Linux/Proton support for their services and Valve can't just force it.

[Spawn of Totoro]

That would be up to those services. They are free to make Linux based versions of their software. No one is stopping them from doing so.

Valve can't as they do not have the rights to do so.

[lightwo]

Epic Games, GOG and others aren't even trying to bring their clients to Linux.

However, in these two cases, there are third party unofficial clients that work natively on Linux, such as Heroic Launcher (GUI), legendary and wyvern (CLI).

I think that all of these can be found in Discover (Flatpak package manager GUI) out of the box.

[rawWwRrr]

Originally posted by Tzarbazar:

With the rise in handheld decks, (ASUS Rog and now MSI handheld) I feel like the Steam Deck would benefit from being able to use other gaming services like Epic Games natively rather than having to implement work arounds that don't work that well.

I really like the Steam deck and how to feels but it's frustrating that I can't utilise Epic Games fully (and it's frustrating how long it took to get it even in the Steam Library on the deck).

I know it's not as simple as adding Epic Games link and a lot of discussions and agreements would be required. But it would ensure users/customers are likely to select a Steam Deck over the competitors 😊

If you look at the development of the Steam Deck, it shouldn't be a surprise that they would favor Steam over trying to incorporate other services. After all, it's a Steam product. Much like PlayStation doesn't support Xbox and vice versa. Steam will focus on Steam. Anything else would be up to the end user.

Fortunately, unlike a PS5 or Xbox, a Deck is not locked down and the user has a lot of freedom to do with it what they like.