Valve has begun rolling out Steam Machine Verified badges on Steam store pages, expanding its long-standing Steam Deck Verified program to the living room-focused hardware that launched in late June. But the initial ratings leave significant gaps for the games that would benefit most from the new system.
For background, see Valve Announces New Steam Machine: Reservations Open Now.
The Steam Machine, which starts at $1,049 and runs SteamOS, targets a higher performance baseline than the Steam Deck. Valve requires Steam Machine Verified games to maintain at least 30 frames per second at 1080p resolution with default settings, compared to the Deck's 1200×800 screen and 30 fps target. That means many games marked as "Unsupported" on the Steam Deck may run perfectly well on the more powerful Steam Machine hardware.
Yet Valve's current compatibility system does little to clarify which games fall into that category. For dozens of titles that the Steam Deck cannot handle, the Steam Machine rating is listed as "still learning about compatibility" with no further detail. This creates a confusing situation for prospective Steam Machine buyers who want to know whether more demanding games in their library will work on the new hardware.
Games that are already Verified on Steam Deck appear to be guaranteed Verified on the Steam Machine, since the Deck's lower hardware requirements are a subset of the Steam Machine's capabilities. On the other end of the spectrum, games that have been confirmed not to work with SteamOS due to anticheat software, driver conflicts, or other compatibility issues are also clearly flagged.
The messy middle is where the Steam Machine Verified badge could provide the most value. These are games that load on SteamOS but cannot meet the Steam Deck's performance threshold. The ROG Ally and other Windows-based handhelds have proven that some modern AAA titles need more GPU power than the Deck provides, and those same games could run respectably at 1080p on the Steam Machine. As noted by Ars Technica, the current system skips over exactly these titles with no indication of whether they might be playable on the higher-specced hardware.
Valve established the Steam Deck Verified program in 2021 with a clear four-tier system: Verified, Playable, Unsupported, and Unknown. The Steam Machine version appears to follow a similar framework but with a smaller pool of tested titles at launch. The company has not detailed a timeline for expanding coverage or explained how it prioritizes which games receive Steam Machine testing.
The rollout timing is notable. The Steam Machine shipped on June 29, 2026, with very limited availability and significant scalping on secondary markets. Valve acknowledged supply constraints early on, and the $1,049 starting price has drawn criticism given Steam's record-breaking $11.1 billion revenue in the first half of 2026. The company has said it does not believe in subsidizing hardware costs, a philosophy it has maintained across both the Steam Deck and the Steam Machine.
For early adopters who have managed to secure a Steam Machine, the compatibility gaps mean they may need to do their own research before installing more demanding titles. Community databases like ProtonDB already offer SteamOS compatibility reports, but those are crowd-sourced rather than officially curated. A more comprehensive official system would give buyers confidence that their game libraries will work on the new hardware.
Valve has historically expanded its compatibility programs over time. The Steam Deck began with roughly 1,500 Verified or Playable titles at launch and grew to tens of thousands within the first year. The Steam Machine Verified program will likely follow a similar trajectory, but the initial gaps leave early adopters in an uncertain position about which of their more demanding games will actually run.
