These factors make the console a potential rival to the Nintendo Switch in the eyes of some gamers, a console that has a similar design and portability appeal. Dev teams are taking a first look at the console, as well as screenshots of how the Steam Store will look like on the Steam Deck itself. This includes giving these developers a way to test if their games are compatible on the console.

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To ensure that players can access their Steam Library from the console, Valve has been testing its large catalog of games. This is no small task, as there are over 50,000 games on the platform, and new ones are being added every day. While some games are able to run smoothly on the hardware, there are some games, like DayZ, that are not able to run on the Steam Deck. While some developers are being provided a way to test and develop games on the console with dev kits, Valve is providing a way for them to do the same without needing one.

These new applications were announced in a blog post on the Steam Community page and are free to download. These are known as the SteamOS Devkit Client and Steam Devkit Service applications. These will have developers connect their development PC to another PC that is running Linux. From there, they can run builds and debug their games in a Linux environment, which allows for devs to create games specifically for the Steam Deck.

In a similar vein, if developers just needed to test their game to see if it’s compatible with the Steam Deck, they can download the SteamOS Devkit Client App to their dev PC, while downloading the Devkit Service app to a Linux box. If developers wanted to know more about these tools, there’s the documentation provided, as well as the live Q&A being held by Valve in regards to the system.

The Steam Deck is being delayed to next year, which may put a damper for some fans. That said, Valve is taking this release seriously, giving developers a way to test their games without needing the actual Dev Kits.

The Steam Deck will launch in February 2022.

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Source: Steam Community