Valve wants your Steam Deck feedback
"The Deck compatibility ratings are about the overall experience"
Valve would like your feedback on its Steam Deck Verified games process.
The request comes not long after Valve confirmed that there are now over 1000 "verified" Steam Deck games - that is, games that Valve has tested to ensure that they run without issues or bugs on its new handheld system.
In an update posted to the Steam Community at the time, Valve acknowledged that while its tough testing regime may result in "false negatives" - games that may fail to secure a "verified" badge even though they run pretty well on Steam Deck - it was preferable to "false positives", and it now needs your help in ensuring its conclusions are accurate.
"The initial data we're gathering in this way is about titles that are Steam Deck Verified," Valve explains in a blog post on the official website.
"We're able to collect objective data (crashes, etc.) to help us understand how well the technical side of our review process is working, but ultimately the Deck compatibility ratings are about the overall experience: the definition of 'working well' is succeeding at enabling current and future Deck customers to find the experiences they want.
"We want to make sure we're doing that, or identify the titles for which your experiences don't match your expectations."
Consequently, Valve will shortly be asking all Steam Deck owners to opt-in to a survey that asks if you're willing to "occasionally" provide some feedback so it can "check in with the crowd to confirm whether the process [it's] built is enabling the experiences we all want it to".
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ICYMI, Valve boss Gabe Newell confirmed that there are currently no plans for the company to introduce a game subscription service, like Microsoft's Xbox Game Pass or EA's EA Play.
Despite the release of its highly-anticipated and all-new handheld system, Newell says that while he understands that subscription services are "clearly a popular option" with some gamers, he doesn't "think it's something [Valve] needs to do" despite their popularity.
He did, however, suggest that the company would be open to working with third-party partners such as Microsoft to "get [subscription services] on Steam".
We also recently learned that despite the popularity and scarcity of its new handheld system, Valve has no plans to increase the retail price of Steam Deck.
Still undecided on Steam Deck? In our Steam Deck review, we said: "Steam Deck is everything Valve promised, a handheld with all the potential of a PC and a huge library of games ready to go," giving it 4.5 stars out of 5.
Looking for something new to get stuck into? Here are the best PC games right now.
Vikki Blake is 12DOVE's Weekend Reporter. Vikki works tirelessly to ensure that you have something to read on the days of the week beginning with 'S', and can also be found contributing to outlets including the BBC, Eurogamer, and GameIndustry.biz. Vikki also runs a weekly games column at NME, and can be frequently found talking about Destiny 2 and Silent Hill on Twitter.