Valve is expanding the reach of its open-source SteamOS by announcing a new compatibility rating system for third-party devices that run on its Linux-based operating system. Steam already has a rating system for Valve's handheld gaming device, the Steam Deck, which uses the Steam Deck Verified badge.

However, the new system will not use these existing ratings. According to Valve, the new game ratings will rely on a subset of results from Steam Deck compatibility tests, which evaluate crucial elements such as game functionality, launcher capabilities, and anti-cheat support. Games will be evaluated by an automated process to give it a SteamOS Compatibility rating. If a game passes the checks on the devices, it will be marked as SteamOS Compatible. These ratings apply to any hardware running SteamOS, except Steam Decks.

Valve's announcement comes as the gaming platform prepares for the launch of the Lenovo Legion Go S. The handheld is set to ship soon, and will be the 1st third party SteamOS device to display official ratings for games on Steam. Initially, Valve plans to assess and rate over 18,000 games on the Steam platform based on their compatibility with these emerging devices. The image featured in this article illustrates an example of what the compatibility ratings look like.

These ratings will only be visible on compatible devices like the Legion Go S, providing users with at-a-glance insights into whether a game will run smoothly on SteamOS,

The move to support SteamOS on third-party devices has been welcomed by the gaming community, as Linux's popularity continues to rise slowly. It could provide some much-needed competition for Windows 11, and for the Nintendo Switch 2 in the gaming market. Valve is hoping that SteamOS will be used on more devices in the future, and it could even be adopted for laptops, or even desktops. HP, for example, had revealed that it had refrained from making a gaming handheld due to limitations related to Windows.