How to get your game Steam Deck Verified

By the end of August 2026, more than 30,000 games on Steam had been rated as working on the Steam Deck: 8,964 Verified and 21,083 Playable, by SteamDB's count as reported by PC Gamer. In January the split had been 7,518 Verified, 17,492 Playable and 6,054 Unsupported. So most games that work on the Deck do not get the green tick.

The obvious reading is that Verified is about porting, that a game needs a Linux build or a heavy optimisation pass. Valve's criteria say otherwise. Most of the gap between Playable and Verified is user interface: glyphs that show a keyboard key, a text field that needs a keyboard, a menu font sized for a 27-inch monitor. Those are a few days of work, and they are worth it, because Deck owners browse with a compatibility filter and a Verified game is the one they buy without reading further.

• Verified: the game passes every compatibility check and works with no user configuration.
• Playable: it works, but may need manual steps, such as selecting a community controller configuration or using the touchscreen for a launcher.
• Unsupported: it does not work on the device, because of Proton or hardware incompatibility, or middleware such as some anti-cheat providers and media codecs.
• Unknown: it has not completed the review.

The rating does not stop anyone buying or playing the game on a Deck; it decides how the store presents it to Deck owners. Valve's documentation now covers the Steam Machine too, and rates it separately: its performance bar is 30 fps at 1080p, and the Deck's display and text tests do not apply to it.

Valve's checks fall into five areas, and a game needs every one:

Valve's legibility rule is stated at the Deck's own resolution: the smallest text on screen must be at least 9 pixels tall at 1280x800, readable from about 30 centimetres, and Valve recommends 12. If your UI is laid out at 1920x1080 and scales down to the Deck, multiply by 1080 ÷ 800:

• Valve's minimum, 9 px at 800p, is about 12 px on a 1080p layout.
• Valve's recommendation, 12 px at 800p, is about 16 px on a 1080p layout.

So a 10 or 11 px footnote on a 1080p menu, which reads fine on a monitor, fails on the Deck. Check the smallest thing on screen, not the body text: tooltips, item counts, key hints and subtitles are where games fail.

Valve tests games itself; a developer does not certify anything. Games reach the queue in three ways: Valve queues back-catalogue titles automatically, adds games it considers important to Deck owners, or takes a request from the developer through the Steam Hardware Compatibility Review link under Technical Tools on the app's landing page. Valve says access to that link is being opened up gradually.

• Unreleased games can be submitted, but the build must have passed its standard build review first.
• You choose the branch to test; without a choice, Valve tests the default branch.
• A native Linux build is tested first, and if it fails Valve tests the Windows build through Proton. The better result is the one published.
• Valve aims to finish within about a week, depending on its queue, and posts detailed results in Steamworks.
• Results publish automatically about a week after they are ready if you take no action.

If the results arrive before they publish and you can fix the issues, submit a new build that addresses them; Valve delays publication and retests it. It does not delay publication for fixes you plan to make later.

After publication, submit a new build and request a re-review, or open a support ticket. Valve may also re-review a game on its own after a new Proton release, when it adds tests, or when players or developers report that a rating is wrong.

Godot exports native Linux x86_64 builds, which Valve tests before falling back to Proton; the Windows build also runs through Proton. Godot 4's Forward+ renderer runs on the Deck's Vulkan driver. The usual gaps are the same as any engine's, and each has a Godot answer:

• Glyphs: switch prompt icons on the last input event's type (a joypad event versus a key or mouse event), not on whether a controller is connected.
• Text entry: open Steam's floating gamepad keyboard through GodotSteam, or give the field its own controller-friendly picker.
• Text size: set the project's stretch mode to canvas_items with a base size you design for, then check the smallest label at 1280x800.
• Performance: ship lower defaults when the game runs on the Deck, and use Godot's resolution scaling (FSR) for 3D rather than dropping the window resolution.

Our Godot on Steam Deck guide goes deeper, and the GodotSteam guide covers adding the Steamworks APIs to a Godot project.

• Play the whole game from launch to credits with a controller only, never touching the trackpads or touchscreen.
• Every prompt shows controller glyphs while a controller is in use.
• Every text field works from the controller.
• The smallest text is at least 9 px at 1280x800 (about 12 px on a 1080p layout); aim for 12 (about 16).
• The default settings hold 30 fps at 800p on a Deck, in the heaviest scene, not the title screen.
• No launcher, or a launcher fully navigable by controller; no warnings about the OS or GPU.
• Any anti-cheat, video codec or middleware you use is supported on Proton or Linux.
• The build has passed its standard review, and you know which branch you want tested.

Flockbay is a free AI game builder on the official Godot engine. The game it builds is an ordinary Godot 4 project, so you can ask it for controller support, input glyphs that follow the last device used, and UI sized for 1280x800, and Godot's own export makes the Linux build the Deck tests first. Flockbay makes the native Windows build itself, and its playtest links bring back errors and crashes from testers' real machines. Hosted playtests are free in beta until 1 December 2026.