Quelling the rumours, Valve has now confirmed that the Steam Deck won’t be getting its own exclusive games.
This news comes via a set of recent FAQs from Valve aimed at its developers, confirming that the Steam Deck won’t have titles that are exclusive to the Steam Deck.
Valve has stated that the Steam Deck is “designed to be a portable PC and not a completely separate platform”. They have also said that “[Exclusivity] doesn’t make much sense to us. It’s a PC and it should just play games like a PC.”
Unlike the PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch, the Steam Deck lacks a specialized operating system or other unique features, instead running a modified version of Valve’s SteamOS, with a console-like interface that will allow users to access the Steam Store and their own Steam libraries with ease.
Many people will be relieved to see that there will be no exclusives, and it appears that the device is intended for player access to be at the forefront of its design.
Because the device is essentially a mini-PC it will allow users to use other apps other than Steam these include Epic Store and Xbox Game Pass.
Also, in the FAQ section Valve mentioned the Steam Deck’s Gyro controls which can be used on a variety of games, and have suggested that developers consider incorporating the feature into their games stating:
“They offer finer precision for people that are used to gamepad inputs, but also take the mouse paradigm from the desktop into a portable form factor. We recommend trying out this style of input for anyone shipping a game that has player control of a camera or a cursor and seeing if it makes sense for your game.”
If you would like more in-depth information and specifications on The Steam Deck, be sure to check out our recent article on the subject.
The Steam Deck was originally set to be released in December this year but has since been delayed to February of next year. So those that are further down the Pre-order queue will have to adjust their expectations on waiting periods for their brand-new Steam Deck.
It is no surprise really that Valve has decided not to make exclusive games for the Steam Deck as the company has always tried to be as inclusive and accessible as possible across different hardware and even multiple platforms.