Steam Frame verification program confirmed, as fresh Steam Machine details land online

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A key feature of the popular Steam Deck gaming handheld is the ‘Steam Deck Verified’ program. This program helps players understand how well a game will run on the device before they buy it.

Games fall into one of three categories: Verified, Playable, or Unsupported. To be considered Verified or Playable, a game needs to meet certain requirements. Specifically, it must run at a minimum of 30 frames per second, work with controllers, and have text that’s easy to read on the Steam Deck’s screen.

For many games, particularly those from the PS4 era and earlier, it’s relatively easy to make them work. The main exception is with very old, mechanically simple games. This ease of compatibility will also apply to the Steam Machine verification process, according to Valve engineer Lawrence Yang. He explained to Game Developer that a game verified on the Steam Deck will automatically be verified on Steam Machine, meaning developers will have fewer technical requirements to meet.

It’s not surprising that Valve plans to use a similar verification system for its new SteamVR headset, the Steam Frame, as Yang mentioned. However, ensuring compatibility for VR is more complex than it is for handheld consoles, which are basically just simpler computers with controllers.

The Steam Deck utilizes a Snapdragon processor—the same type found in smartphones and similar to what powers the Meta Quest 3. This lets you play games directly on the device, without needing to connect it to a computer or other streaming source.

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It’s important to understand that the Snapdragon processor is built on ARM technology, meaning it operates using a different set of instructions than the processors (like those from Intel and AMD) commonly found in computers and gaming consoles. This difference impacts how programs run on these devices.

If you’re an Apple user, you might recall that when Apple switched to its own Silicon processors – starting with the M1 chip – it created Rosetta 2. This was a special tool that allowed older apps, originally designed for older processors, to run on the new machines until developers could update them to work natively.

Valve has experience with emulation – their Proton software already lets Windows games and applications run on Linux. But because the Steam Deck uses an AMD processor built on the x86 architecture, getting other systems to work on it is much simpler.

Don’t worry, though, as Valve is creating a translation layer called FEX. It works a lot like Rosetta 2, but it’s much more resource-intensive. Running programs this way could use 10-20% of your Steam Deck’s processing power, so you’ll need to make sure your device is powerful enough to handle non-ARM-based games.

So, how will the Steam Frame verification program work?

When it comes to games, players will have two main options: immersive 3D VR games and traditional games shown on a virtual screen.

A lot of VR games are already made for devices like the Meta Quest, and many of those should easily work on the new platform. However, quite a few games were originally built to run on traditional Windows computers with Intel or AMD processors, and those will need to be adapted.

At a recent preview event, Valve demonstrated VR games like Moss and Ghost Town working with the Steam Deck, giving us a good idea of the performance we can anticipate.

Games designed for flatscreens will also need to run smoothly on the Steam Deck itself. Valve demonstrated this during the event with a playable version of Hades 2.

Valve is starting to work with ARM technology, which opens up the possibility of Steam games being playable on mobile devices. They might even expand the Steam store to compete with platforms like Google Play and the App Store.

Considering everything, the Steam Frame verification program needs to account for a wide range of possible situations.

  • ARM-native VR games
  • x86-based VR games
  • ARM-native flatscreen games
  • X86-based flatscreen games

It’s not yet known exactly what information will be shared with players, but another Valve engineer, Steve Cardinali, explained the company aims for a “it just works” approach with its hardware. This suggests we might simply see a game marked as “Steam Frame Verified” or not, similar to how the Steam Deck works.

Early adopters of the Steam Deck might recall that the initial verification process for games took a while to get going and wasn’t without issues – some games that were listed as ‘verified’ still didn’t run smoothly.

It’s likely to be easier to check if simpler VR games work well because there aren’t as many of them available yet, and they’ve already proven to run on comparable headsets. In contrast, when using Steam to play regular games on a virtual screen, the system has to handle a massive library of tens of thousands of titles.

Will Valve just warn players about potentially problematic games, or will they try to automatically check if a game will run on a user’s computer based on its system requirements?

We’ll likely learn more as Valve plans to release the Steam Frame and Steam Machine in early 2026. However, the success of these products depends on their price. Current RAM costs are high, which might force Valve to charge more than originally anticipated, potentially deterring customers.

Authors

Cole LukeFreelance Writer
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2026-01-15 20:35