With a rumored $1000 price tag, I don’t think it matters how well games run. I think they’ve already priced themselves out of their potential market
this post was submitted on 14 Jan 2026
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Verified for that should no longer be tied to a low resolution (text scaling) or input schema (controller input, touch input.)
So all those strategy games and text heavy games will no longer show up as a yellow mark of "is it good or is it shit" for the gabecube at least.
Way more memory too, which will help in some games. Vram should be fine because this shouldn't be a 4k gaming machine. I'm just worried about price. I have no interest in picking one up but with nand going stupid this is likely to be a more popular entrypoint and still close to maybe $1000-1200. If it released in october I would have said $700-800.
Verified for that should no longer be tied to a low resolution (text scaling) or input schema (controller input, touch input.)
Then what's the point of verifying it for the hardware? The controller should definitely be taken into account, if it comes with a default controller and if the games recommended way to play is a controller. This is meant to be a console like experience, and it probably does not come with a keyboard by default.
No, because not every game should be a controller game.
Controller support is already a filter available within steam. It should not be the primary and only way to use a gabecube. It is not a handheld device or solely a HTPC class device, it's a full blown computer.
Where did I say the controller should be the only way to use it? I said "the default". Like a game console or handheld, as a developer and player you can expect the standard controller to be supported, for games that are perfectly playable. On console you can even plug in a keyboard, but you can't expect anyone to have it. But you can expect a controller.
What part of the steam machine page shows a controller as the default mode? They have three videos of people using it. A single one has controllers... the other two are as desktops.
The thing is designed to be compatible with steam's controller, but it's not just for controllers. It is sold without the controller, but you can buy a bundle with a controller. The wording on the page carefully notes that you can "use your steam controller without it's puck" because it has a receiver inside of it, that's it.
The deck is a default controller device because it clearly is just a big controller with a screen. The gabecube is literally a ultra small form factor PC, intended to be plugged into a display, and bring your own peripherals. There's no default peripheral.
I think something like this https://store.steampowered.com/app/1818940/Typing_Land/ should be perfectly verified on the cube. By making controllers the "default" that title could never be verified, it would always have a nasty yellow mark despite running perfectly fine.
PCs that come with e-waste keyboards piss me off
What do you mean e-waste keyboards?
If a new PC comes with a keyboard and my old PC also came with a keyboard, one of those keyboards is excessive and will probably end up in the trash as society is overwhelmed by everyone's excess keyboards. It's why phones have to all use the same charger now, and they don't come with a cable.
But this is supposed to be a console like all in one device. If the Steam verified program gives a game verified badge for a keyboard centric game, and it does not come with keyboard and mouse, then its simply wrong rated. And I think the verified rating should take this into account and do not verify such games. That is my point I was making.
It doesn't come with a controller either. You don't have to use their controller, so it's good that it's an optional purchase.
They used to sell PCs with a keyboard, mouse, monitor, speakers, and various software all without the option to buy just the PC. It was awful because it made the machine more expensive for the consumer, and it also generated a ton of waste.
It doesn’t come with a controller either.
Is this official information or a prediction?
Seems obvious, though there are already a ton of verified games just for the Steam Deck already (even most of the ones that aren't seem to run fine from what I've tried so far).
There are even games that run fine on Steam Deck, which has the rating of not running at all.
My only issues have been input related, i.e., keyboard and mouse.
Some games do not run (or did not in the past) due to codec issues too. Besides anticheat off course.
And then some games for mysterious reasons do not run, like the first Batman Arkham City, but all the following Batman games run on the Steam Deck. The game itself runs on Linux PCs, so its a mystery to me. A quick research shows it would launch with the launch option added -windowed, but I digress.
Yeah, but the virtual keyboard and trackpad works well enough to get around that without actually plugging in peripherals (at least for what I've played so far).