My Favourite Game, Windows 10, Is Now Available On Steam Deck

I know we can’t get them yet, but here’s a little Steam Deck info to put in the brain until we can.

Something notable about the Steam Deck pre-launch was the promise of being able to run the handheld on any operating system. It is, after all, a PC with the hot tight body of a Nintendo Switch. While the driver for Windows wasn’t ready in time for the launch of the console, it is now.

A blog post made by Valve this morning confirmed that Steam Deck Windows drivers are now available. The post also makes a few notes about the driver:

For now you can only perform a full Windows install. While Steam Deck is fully capable of dual-boot, the SteamOS installer that provides a dual-boot wizard isn’t ready yet.

Also for now, you can only install Windows 10. Windows 11 requires a new BIOS that is currently in the pipe (which provides fTPM support) and will be shipping soon.

Drivers are provided for GPU, WiFi, and Bluetooth. Audio drivers are still in the works with AMD and other parties – but you’ll still be able to use Bluetooth or USB-C audio with Windows on Deck.

So basically, you can now run Windows on your Steam Deck, but for now, you can’t run both Windows and SteamOS at the same time. You also can only run Windows 10, and can only use either a Bluetooth or USB-C headset or headphones with the console if you’re running Windows.

These are somewhat minor notes that’ll probably get ironed out over time. On the plus side, being able to run Windows on the Steam Deck means that a whole bunch of games not available on SteamOS have become available to play on the console. Could this potentially mean that games like Destiny 2 will be playable on the Steam Deck, considering the issue prior was that Destiny 2 wasn’t compatible with the Steam Deck’s Linux-based base operating system? I’d say only time will tell on that one, and you probably shouldn’t try it unless you’re aching for a permaban.

We’ll be keeping our finger on the pulse in terms of when the Steam Deck will be available in Australia. In the meantime, you can always hold your monitor or laptop screen in your hands and play pretend.