The Steam Machine should launch with around 30,000 playable games
The Steam Machine should launch with around 30,000 playable games
Publish Date: 2026-06-23 05:01:00
Source Domain: www.gamingonlinux.com
One benefit of SteamOS Linux and Valve’s ecosystem is the sheer amount of games available – and ahead of the Steam Machine launch there’s a ridiculous amount. From tiny free to play indie games up to some of the latest AAA big-hitters, there’s an insane amount of variety on offer.
Remember the original attempt at the Steam Machine? Part of the reason it never really worked is that there simply weren’t enough Native Linux games (those actually built for Linux). This is pretty much a solved problem now thanks to Proton to run Windows games where most of the time you can’t even tell so the vast majority of games do work.
There is a rather large elephant in the room, however: the dreaded anti-cheat problem. A really frustrating number of popular multiplayer games currently block Linux platforms.
We know that Valve plan to have a specific Steam Machine Verified system that’s similar to how they do it for the Steam Deck. If a game is Steam Deck Verified, it will be Steam Machine Verified but if a game is Unsupported on Steam Deck (say due to performance) it may very well work much better on the Steam Machine.
Taking that into account, and perusing SteamDB for the latest details that includes games that are unlisted (but people who own them can still play) – there’s currently 29,790 that are rated to be SteamOS Compatible. Of course you’ll have varying experiences as some games will run smooth – others not so much.
What an absolutely shocking number of games to have access to.
At the rate Valve put games through verification, by the time the first lot actually arrive in players homes – that number will be higher again. And that’s not even taking into account all the games that Valve have not yet tested, plenty of those will likely run out of the box with Proton. Valve never actually stop you from trying any game. So the real number is actually much higher.
Then there’s standalone games like Minecraft and other launchers – all still possible on SteamOS (with a…
