In the run-up to the Steam Deck being released, many in the community were keen to see whether it could play a significant role in the mobile gaming market. Even though Valve has a shaky history of hardware products, this latest endeavor was shaping up to be something worth looking forward to. When it released a couple of months ago, the Steam Deck seemed to be worth the wait. While it's not perfect by any stretch, the fact that it allows PC gaming on the go is its major selling point, and there are always games being made compatible with it.
According to a recent chart done up by Boiling Steam, the number of titles that are classed as "verified" or "playable" on the Steam Deck is rising quite significantly. At the time of the report going live, there were 2,406 games compatible with the device, and this number is going up constantly. So it shouldn't be long before it hits 2,500. The graph also shows just how much of a leap has been made since the Deck launched on February 25, with an average of 27 games per day being added to the verification list.
It wasn't that long ago that there were around 1000 games verified or playable on the Steam Deck. Although this is a long way from the approximately 50,000 titles carried on the Steam platform, it's still a pretty impressive feat to see both Valve and its partners working diligently to make sure that as many games as possible can be played on the system. It makes sense given that's what the device is mainly used for. But the fact that the Steam Deck is also a fully functional PC with the ability to have peripherals attached is just the icing on the cake.
Since launching, Valve has continued to improve the Steam Deck with frequent updates and has been asking the community for feedback so far, and there have been numerous patches and bug fixes rolled out. It's to be expected that there will be some teething problems early on, but it seems the company is on the case when issues do crop up.
With Valve also adding support for Windows 11, many have moved on from the initial idea of the Steam Deck being a direct competitor to the Nintendo Switch. While it is a portable gaming machine, the fact that it can be used in the same way as a home computer, which includes the ability to install a different operating system, sets it apart from other handheld devices.
Source: Kotaku, Boiling Steam
