Steam Deck and PC at the same time?

[Tactics]

can i have Steam open on both my PC and the Steam deck under the same account?

i want to run my mmo on the PC and play another single player game on the Deck. is this possible to do under my own account?

[_I_]

yes, you own all the game, you can play any of them on any of your pcs at the same time

[AD]

Originally posted by _I_:

yes, you own all the game, you can play any of them on any of your pcs at the same time

I tried it and it told me I couldnt play both at the PC and on my Steam Deck at the same time. Or am I missing something?

[Tactics]

Originally posted by AD:

Originally posted by _I_:

yes, you own all the game, you can play any of them on any of your pcs at the same time

I tried it and it told me I couldnt play both at the PC and on my Steam Deck at the same time. Or am I missing something?

ok got 2 different answers.......

before i buy a steam deck i would like to know if i can do this. anyone else want to confirm this please?

[76561199502155650]

the short answer is NO

you can not use the same account on both at the same time.

you can swap a single account between them but not use it on 2 devices at the same time.


if you buy a steam deck it is recommended to create a new steam account for it purchase steam deck games on that account, while leaving things like the desired MMO you want to play for your desktop account.

it is unfortunate, because duel device support would encourage many more people to buy a steam deck, as they might have multiply people in the house who would then enjoy the steam account inventory.

unforunatly steam wants you to buy a steam deck but also wants to limit your use on the account in which you own with the number of devices that can be logged in at any time on a account. "WHICH IS 1"

[AD]

Originally posted by Unicorn - Rainbow Unit:

the short answer is NO

you can not use the same account on both at the same time.

you can swap a single account between them but not use it on 2 devices at the same time.


if you buy a steam deck it is recommended to create a new steam account for it purchase steam deck games on that account, while leaving things like the desired MMO you want to play for your desktop account.

it is unfortunate, because duel device support would encourage many more people to buy a steam deck, as they might have multiply people in the house who would then enjoy the steam account inventory.

unforunatly steam wants you to buy a steam deck but also wants to limit your use on the account in which you own with the number of devices that can be logged in at any time on a account. "WHICH IS 1"

Minor correction: You can be logged into Steam on the same account on multiple devices without a problem. But you can only play a game on 1 device at a time. If you try and launch a game on another device, it will prompt you about it.

As I mentioned above I tested it, and have been logged into Steam on both my desktop and my Steam Deck quite often, so I know this from first hand experience.

[HypersleepyNaputunia]

could try being offline on 1 device

[PopinFRESH]

Originally posted by Unicorn - Rainbow Unit:

...
if you buy a steam deck it is recommended to create a new steam account for it purchase steam deck games on that account, while leaving things like the desired MMO you want to play for your desktop account....

This is nonsense. You might recommend this but this is not a "recommended" by Valve or anything near a substantial amount of people.

Originally posted by AD:

Originally posted by Unicorn - Rainbow Unit:

...
unforunatly steam wants you to buy a steam deck but also wants to limit your use on the account in which you own with the number of devices that can be logged in at any time on a account. "WHICH IS 1"

Minor correction: You can be logged into Steam on the same account on multiple devices without a problem. But you can only play a game on 1 device at a time. If you try and launch a game on another device, it will prompt you about it.

As I mentioned above I tested it, and have been logged into Steam on both my desktop and my Steam Deck quite often, so I know this from first hand experience.

^ You can be logged in to the same account of multiple devices at the same time, you just can't play a game on multiple devices at the same time with both devices online.

For the OP's described situation, unless the single player game requires a persistent online connection, they would be able to play the MMO on their desktop with their Steam account online, and also set their Steam Deck to offline mode and play their single player game at the same time.

[levet.byck]

maybe you can play on both at the same time if you join...beta (steam beta)

[Tactics]

Originally posted by PopinFRESH:

Originally posted by Unicorn - Rainbow Unit:

...
if you buy a steam deck it is recommended to create a new steam account for it purchase steam deck games on that account, while leaving things like the desired MMO you want to play for your desktop account....

This is nonsense. You might recommend this but this is not a "recommended" by Valve or anything near a substantial amount of people.

Originally posted by AD:

Minor correction: You can be logged into Steam on the same account on multiple devices without a problem. But you can only play a game on 1 device at a time. If you try and launch a game on another device, it will prompt you about it.

As I mentioned above I tested it, and have been logged into Steam on both my desktop and my Steam Deck quite often, so I know this from first hand experience.

^ You can be logged in to the same account of multiple devices at the same time, you just can't play a game on multiple devices at the same time with both devices online.

For the OP's described situation, unless the single player game requires a persistent online connection, they would be able to play the MMO on their desktop with their Steam account online, and also set their Steam Deck to offline mode and play their single player game at the same time.

ok if true this is just fine. playing my mmo has to be online, but the single player doesn't. i just wonder if DRM like DENUVO and ubisoft etc. will effect my single player game if i say offline for too long?

[HypersleepyNaputunia]

really sad people that "buy" games have to worry about this and ask permission from the company to play it

[PopinFRESH]

Originally posted by Tactics:

Originally posted by PopinFRESH:

This is nonsense. You might recommend this but this is not a "recommended" by Valve or anything near a substantial amount of people.



^ You can be logged in to the same account of multiple devices at the same time, you just can't play a game on multiple devices at the same time with both devices online.

For the OP's described situation, unless the single player game requires a persistent online connection, they would be able to play the MMO on their desktop with their Steam account online, and also set their Steam Deck to offline mode and play their single player game at the same time.

ok if true this is just fine. playing my mmo has to be online, but the single player doesn't. i just wonder if DRM like DENUVO and ubisoft etc. will effect my single player game if i say offline for too long?

They can yes. Also, you'll want to check either the games store page to see if it is Steam Deck verified, and/or check protondb[www.protondb.com] to make sure the game will work on Steam Deck via Proton. Ubisoft is probably the worst in this regard with uConnect/uPlay, however, some 3rd party DRM and anti-cheat systems are not (or have yet to be made) compatible with Linux/Proton.

If the single player game, either by DRM or otherwise, requires a persistent online connection or has a periodic "phone-home" system then those can be problematic when trying to play with them in Offline mode.

In general though most single player games wont have an issue for the relatively brief periods you'd have the Steam Deck in Offline mode. Just launch the game on Steam Deck while in Online mode, exit the game, set the Steam Deck to Offline mode, and launch the game again in Offline mode. Then launch Steam on your desktop and load up your MMO in Online mode. When you're done playing your MMO set your Steam Deck back to Online mode to allow the "phone-home" or last-online checks to get refreshed.

The Steam Deck is effectively just another PC in a hand-held form factor. If you have a Laptop and a Desktop it will work the same way so you could test out this behavior (other than the things that might not work on Proton, assuming you aren't running linux on the laptop).

Also possibly worth noting, if you have an emulation collection from any older game carts you might have the Steam Deck is a great experience for most emulators. I have all of my old console libraries other than PS2/PS3 on my Steam Deck and those will obviously work regardless of what I'm doing on my Desktop with Steam. The same would go for any other non-Steam games you might have which many can be installed via Lutris and/or Heroic launcher.

[Grøgnak]

Originally posted by Unicorn:

the short answer is NO

you can not use the same account on both at the same time.

you can swap a single account between them but not use it on 2 devices at the same time.


if you buy a steam deck it is recommended to create a new steam account for it purchase steam deck games on that account, while leaving things like the desired MMO you want to play for your desktop account.

it is unfortunate, because duel device support would encourage many more people to buy a steam deck, as they might have multiply people in the house who would then enjoy the steam account inventory.

unforunatly steam wants you to buy a steam deck but also wants to limit your use on the account in which you own with the number of devices that can be logged in at any time on a account. "WHICH IS 1"

This is the worst advice I've ever seen, DO NOT CREATE A NEW STEAM ACCOUNT. You can just put your deck in offline mode and play your other games on it that way.

[Christina]

This thread was quite old before the recent post, so we're locking it to prevent confusion.