With the Steam Machine and other hardware still reportedly on track for a 2026 release, Valve have shed some light on what will qualify a game for being Steam Machine Verified as a part of their Steam Hardware Talk at GDC 2026. Those gunning for the qualification will only need to make sure their games can hit 30fps at 1080p, notably only a resolution bump from the Steam Deck's 30fps target at 720p for verification. Though perhaps an underwhelming target on paper, it does greatly simplify the verification system for Valve, allowing them to confidently mark any games that are already Deck Verified as Machine Verified without any further testing. Those that are currently marked as Deck Playable for legibility reasons will also be Machine Verified out of the box.

Alongside this, we also got some insight into what will qualify a game to be Frame Verified, with the platform targeting 90fps for standalone VR titles, and 30fps at 720p for standalone 2D games. Due to the architectural differences between the Frame and Valve's other hardware, no games will be Frame Verified by default, with Deck Verified and Deck Playable games being tested, as well as those not supported by the Steam Deck due to a VR requirement.

Those interested can find the slide deck from the presentation below.

Source

 

[PatrickD85]

Ok and this highlights what I noted a while back. The hardware will simply be the bottlneck like it always is on pc.
Steam machine is an as is system ... as a console mostly is. This is going to be a trainwreck in the pc gaming space.
Or are they going to do yearly hardware revisions? Which kinda still defeats its purpose in my opinion.

 

[cearp]

If "Steam Machine Verified" meant that a game had to run at 60fps, what about the (older?) games that may only run at 30fps?
The more I think about it, it's even more fine.

Of course there will be sites that list compatibility / performance of games, how well they run on this, etc.
That will be the thing to check, not just steam's OK mark.

 

[console]

Steam Machine systems are too weak. Best to build our custom gaming desktop computers are best way to go.

Steam Machine will end up in landfill. Poor Steam. Lol

 

[DeadSkullzJr]

System requirements on Steam have existed for years, this basically plays no differently logically speaking between deck verified and now machine verified requirements. Sure, one could argue that the minimum and sometimes even the recommended requirements may not even be genuinely honest or accurate, but the point is, it's there as a general idea. This doesn't mean the Steam machine can't handle more than 30 FPS at 1080p, this is just setting the minimum standards for verification. I think what you guys should be more concerned about, is how piss poor most games are made anymore. Between botched day one releases, to extensive amount of updates to try and cover the blunder, and still some obvious bugs left behind. This isn't a hardware problem, this is a software problem.

I'm still not personally convinced or have too much interest in buying this machine, much like I still haven't the Steam Deck. But let me make this clear, a lot of you guys and gals are barking up the wrong tree where problems are concerned.

 

[Xzi]

As a minimum baseline that's kind of expected, same as current gen consoles running quality mode. In a practical sense it's probably only going to be UE5 games and GTA6 running at or slightly above 30 FPS.

As a reminder, Steam Machine is a little bigger than a Gamecube, about half the size of a PS5/XSX. Can't expect RTX 5090 performance crammed in there.

 

[Bladexdsl]

so much for my shield tv pro replacement

 

[Xzi]

so much for my shield tv pro replacement

might as well just get the helix now or whatever they are going to call it

Neither one is gonna provide a good price-to-performance ratio in the current market, but Steam Machine is gonna be $300 to $400 less than Helix.

 

[Silterpy]

I'm not getting one, never planned on getting one. I'm fine with 30fps on the Steam Deck, but on a dedicated PC, 60fps should be the minimum with no frame gen. I do want to get a Steam Frame, though.

 

[Bladexdsl]

until they post the specs of the damn thing no point in jumping to conclusions

 

[a_username_that_is_cool]

I feel like if it can do 30, it can do 60 (on most games; not the latest and greatest, obviously.) I agree with most of you, 60 should be the "verified" rating, but keep in mind that Valve could change this later. They might make it so Verified is only for games that run at 128K one billion fps. Who knows

 

[Xzi]

until they post the specs of the damn thing no point in jumping to conclusions

I mean there have been previews of it, creators showed it running Cyberpunk 2077 at 70+ FPS with medium settings. It won't be weak for its size or price, but that's keeping in mind that Costco pre-built desktops (typically a great value) are now pushing $2300.

 

[Sir Tortoise]

Look, I don't even care about the Steam Machine, I play ancient ass games on a laptop. But I think you're worrying over nothing.

Yes, the specs aren't amazing. Who cares, it'll do the job for most games, and that's what this is saying. Hit this basic threshold, and we will label it as Working.

That doesn't mean it can't run better than that, though. They aren't ever going to set the threshold higher, what, do you want them to flag games as unsupported because the 60fps framerate sometimes dips to 52 if you're in a busy area?

This isn't a cap, its the bare minimum for them to feel confident advertising basic support. Chill out. You will be able to do significantly better in most games, especially if you're willing to lower graphics settings.

 

[TehCupcakes]

Look, I don't even care about the Steam Machine, I play ancient ass games on a laptop. But I think you're worrying over nothing.

Yes, the specs aren't amazing. Who cares, it'll do the job for most games, and that's what this is saying. Hit this basic threshold, and we will label it as Working.

That doesn't mean it can't run better than that, though. They aren't ever going to set the threshold higher, what, do you want them to flag games as unsupported because the 60fps framerate sometimes dips to 52 if you're in a busy area?

This isn't a cap, its the bare minimum for them to feel confident advertising basic support. Chill out. You will be able to do significantly better in most games, especially if you're willing to lower graphics settings.

Came here to say just this. I support this benchmark. It's a fine way of saying "it's playable", without demanding absolute perfection.

And look, not every game is made for > 1080p or > 30fps. Are you just going to mark all the 30fps games as "unverified" because they don't natively support a higher framerate? That would have nothing to do with the hardware.

It's not like this is Nintendo saying "our new console will target 30fps". These are PC games we're talking about. Developers will continue to target higher frame rates where appropriate, regardless of what it means to be "Steam machine verified". You can expect your mileage may vary depending on the game, and you can check out the recommended hardware specs if you're concerned about reaching 60+ fps.

The verified program is a more accessible way to say it the hardware can run the game and it should be a decent experience. If you're the type who obsesses over max performance, you will probably find things to complain about from your own litmus test regardless of what they do. You're not their audience- move on.

 

[KingVamp]

How many people are going to be "30fps is unplayable" when Gta 6 comes around?

That said, the Steam Deck 2 is going to come eventually, I wonder if they will change their verification requirements when that happens.

 

[CoolMe]

yep, 30fps for just 1080p is unacceptable in this day and age, if it was 4k? maybe understandable sp with new releases, tho it should handle older/less demanding titles (4-5 years and older) just fine at that resolution/fps. Now i know they don't mean that every steam machine verified game gonna run with that performance and it's just a baseline, but what's worrying (or atleast should be) for folks is if it's gonna current gen games with that performance what about next gen stuff? making this machine less and less future proof, sp rn in the current gaming landscape when next gen consoles are getting closer to release.. tho i appreciate the transparency regarding the capabilities of this machine..

 

[Bladexdsl]

all i need it to do is play 4k movies and emulation up to n64 (and maybe wii) stable with no slowdowns or stutter (what happens on the shield tv pro) until i know that i'm staying on the fence

 

[tech3475]

all i need it to do is play 4k movies and emulation up to n64 (and maybe wii) stable with no slowdowns or stutter (what happens on the shield tv pro) until i know that i'm staying on the fence

I'm curious what emulator you use, I tried Spacestation Silicon Valley on my 500GB model with an SSD via Retroarch and whilst I had no slowdown, it was unplayable due to some collectables not rendering.

 

[Raikasearch]

It's a shame the 30 frames, it doesnt make anything unplayable imo. The price is really going to dictate how I feel about it. My wife wants one to occasionally play PC games, so the main user in my house probably won't notice, but it would be nice to know it's good.

 

[ChronosNotashi]

Looking at the page explaining Deck verification, it seems it is Valve:

View attachment 561798

I wonder what the team responsible for doing these reviews looks like.

Can I...point out that I have my doubts about Valve having its own review team, much less a competent one? Just to bring up one example, God Eater Resurrection is noted as "Verified" on Steam, but I can personally confirm that there are issues with the game on Steam Deck (and indeed, with Linux in general - can't say for Windows) that require tinkering with launch options or third-party tools to address the immediate loading issues that plague the loading screens and character model loading. And the port in general needs patches to fix bugs such as AI companions not behaving properly with 60 FPS.

And I only found out about said tinkering methods and patches thanks to ProtonDB (under God Eater 2: Rage Burst, since Resurrection doesn't have its own ProtonDB page due to it being included with Rage Burst). That said, I did see something about a more recent version of Proton fixing some of the issues, so I'll have to see if the tinkering is still needed.

 

[SS4]

70% of Steam users will get a better experience than what they currently have so if you are the other 30% you are not the main target audience for the Steam Machine . . .
Just saying lol