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Earlier this year, Valve said the requirements for a game to be "Steam Machine Verified" would be much less stringent than for the Steam Deck, mostly because of the power envelope the former is working with. Today, the company has confirmed those initial comments with official slides presented at GDC 2026 for both Steam Machine and Steam Frame Verified programs.
We already knew that Deck Verified games would automatically be Machine Verified, too — games in this category are required to run at a stable 30 FPS at 1080p resolution. The Steam Machine is almost as powerful as a PS5 with 28 RDNA 3 CUs. Hence, "Deck Playable" games that didn't perform well on the handheld would also be Machine Verified because they'd be expected to run better.
Image credit: Valve
Image credit: Valve
However, any Deck Playable games that didn't run properly because of controls or any other reason would be thrown into "Machine Playable." Finally, "Deck Unsupported" games would be reassessed for the Steam Machine and designated "Machine Test" if they couldn't run on the Steam Deck due to power constraints. If SteamOS was the barrier, then these Deck Unsupported games would fall into "Machine Unsupported."
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It's a pretty straightforward process that eliminates the need to put new verified badges on titles; the Steam Machine library should be huge from day one due to the work done for Steam Deck. By contrast, there is no Verified program for streaming games to the Steam Frame, with Valve saying that if a game runs well on your host PC, it will run well on Steam Frame. For standalone VR titles, there is no "Frame Verified" tier at all. There are only two tiers: Frame Test and Frame Unsupported, and both are self-explanatory.
Any game that was previously Deck Verified, Deck Playable, or Deck Unsupported because of VR would be assigned the Frame Test badge. These titles would be reevaluated to work on the headset. Games that were Deck Unsupported because of performance and SteamOS are automatically disqualified and will become Frame Unsupported as well. So, what actually are the requirements for the Steam Frame?
Image credit: Valve
Image credit: Valve
Valve says the games need to fully support the Frame controllers, and both VR and non-VR games are open to testing. Standalone VR titles need to achieve 90 FPS with no resolution mandated, but "2D" games need to run at 720p at a stable 30 FPS. Lastly, these programs should have a VR-friendly UI that's easily legible in the headset. In contrast, the Steam Machine has no UI legibility requirements.
That wraps up the rather efficient and straightforward verified program for Valve's upcoming hardware. Now, we just need to know when these things are dropping. The global component crisis has had many companies delaying their products, and Valve seems to be no different. The firm's decision not to subsidize the Steam Machine like consoles further complicates the release strategy. Whenever it does launch, buyers can rest assured that a large number of verified games will be waiting for them.
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