Valve has detailed the verification requirements for its upcoming Steam Machine and Steam Frame hardware. For a game to be "Steam Machine Verified," it must run at a stable 30 FPS at 1080p resolution, with many existing Steam Deck Verified titles automatically qualifying.
The Steam Frame, a VR headset, has different tiers: "Frame Test" and "Frame Unsupported." Standalone VR titles need to achieve 90 FPS, while non-VR "2D" games must run at 720p and 30 FPS with a VR-friendly UI.
The system is designed to leverage existing Steam Deck compatibility work, ensuring a large library of verified games will be available for the new hardware at launch, though release dates remain uncertain.
Main Topics: Steam Machine verification requirements, Steam Frame verification requirements, leveraging Steam Deck compatibility, hardware release context.
Valve details new game verification system for upcoming Steam Frame and Steam Machine — 30 FPS at 1080p for Steam Frame Verified, same as Steam Deck
But every game will be retested for the Steam Frame.
Get Tom's Hardware's best news and in-depth reviews, straight to your inbox.
You are now subscribed
Your newsletter sign-up was successful
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.
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."
Article continues belowIt'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?
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.
Get Tom's Hardware's best news and in-depth reviews, straight to your inbox.
Follow Tom's Hardware on Google News, or add us as a preferred source, to get our latest news, analysis, & reviews in your feeds.
Hassam Nasir is a die-hard hardware enthusiast with years of experience as a tech editor and writer, focusing on detailed CPU comparisons and general hardware news. When he’s not working, you’ll find him bending tubes for his ever-evolving custom water-loop gaming rig or benchmarking the latest CPUs and GPUs just for fun.
-
hotaru251 Replygames 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
imagine your baseline being 30fps at 1080p and comparing yourself to PS5..... like wow.
Given the price of this thing (w/ nand and stuff its not goign to be under $800 if not a grand) its going to be massively overpriced waste. -
ezst036 Reply
Then Valve still fully intends to release the machine. No other reason to put this much work into it.Admin said:Valve details new game verification system for upcoming Steam Frame and Steam Machine -
ezst036 Reply
Why do people act like PS6s are only going to be $299 at the release date next year?hotaru251 said:its going to be massively overpriced waste.
The world has not granted XBox and PS an immunity from RAM price hikes.It should be reasonable to state that a thousand dollar Steam Machine could be competitive against a thousand dollar PS6 or thousand dollar XBox. -
hotaru251 Reply
where did it come off as that? they are likely going to be 650-750. (and thats lowballing it as they wont sell at a loss anymore)ezst036 said:Why do people act like PS6s are only going to be $299 at the release date next year?
Steams will not be as cost competitive becasue they wont have near the sales of a console and thus they need to make back R&D on a smaller amount thus a higher price tag.
ezst036 said:It should be reasonable to state that a thousand dollar Steam Machine could be competitive against a thousand dollar PS6 or thousand dollar XBox.
a console isnt running at just 1080p 30fps anymore. (heck most of the steam deck competitors stuff can do 1080p 30 already and cost less)
fact is even consoles are goign to have a hard time selling if the "ai craze" doesn't stop as not enough people are going to buy em at those prices & w/o playerbase devs wont make many games as it wont be a large enough profit margin.
Meridiano
