Steam Deck verification criteria continues to confuse as Masters of Albion is marked Unsupported, despite devs considering it 'fully optimised for handheld'

Masters of Albion is the new god game by Fable creator Peter Molyneux. Ahead of its early access launch in late April, studio 22cans addressed its Steam Deck compatibility in a blog post. "We have spent a significant amount of time setting this up, making sure that Masters is a smooth, playable experience on the Deck," the blogpost reads, "and it is time to let you all know that—YES!—Masters of Albion is Steam Deck Compatible."

The blog goes on to note that, at the time, the game was still in Valve's verification queue. It also lists some of the handheld optimizations the studio had worked on in advance of its early access release, including trackpad support and full Steam input support. 22cans seemed very confident that it would pass Valve's compatibility process though: "Until we receive the official 'Verified' badge, Masters of Albion may show as Unknown or Playable on Steam. However, we consider the game fully optimised for handheld."

I played Masters of Albion just after launch and at the time, its performance was mixed at best on Steam Deck. At lowest settings it would hover around the 30 fps mark but often lurch into the mid-20s and even into the late teens.

Crucially, playing it using the Steam Deck's onboard controls was fine, though I wouldn't dare play it without trackpads given how mouse-reliant it is. In this way, it's playable on Steam Deck, but certainly not in a docked situation (unless you were lucky enough to get a Steam Controller yesterday).

Still, it wasn't a great experience and I wouldn't recommend it. But then, very many Verified or Playable Steam Deck games aren't good experiences either. There are loads of officially Verified games that have really poor performance. Off the top of my head, Oblivion Remastered, Borderlands 4 and The Outer Worlds 2 are perfect examples of games that work but don't work well. I really don't think you should play any of those games on Steam Deck and if it were up to me, they'd get the same Unsupported note as Masters of Albion now has, and which I agree with: "This game's graphics settings cannot be configured to run well on Steam Deck".

"We do recognise Valve's assessment, and as a result performance optimisation remains a primary ongoing focus for the team," 22cans told me. "When we do roll out further performance updates, we will reassess against Valve’s requirements and pursue re-verification accordingly."

They went on: "Masters of Albion is playable on Steam Deck, and we’ve received positive feedback from community members on their experience. However, the game does not currently meet Valve’s performance thresholds for an official compatibility badge."

It all points to a continued inconsistency in Valve's verification process that continues to irk Steam Deck devotees, who are very vocal about the inconsistencies on Reddit and the Steam forums. Is a game really "perfect for Deck" if it looks like a PS2 game running at 24 fps? And why is that passable for some and not for others?

Valve's official Steam Deck compatibility documents don't specify a minimum performance requirement for Steam Deck, whereas Steam Machine has one even before launching (1080p and 30 fps). With the latter box looming, it's probably time for Valve to clarify what has become an ambiguous system.