Can You Play Valorant on Steam Deck?

Though the Steam Deck may be able to play the various amounts of games available on Steam, it's looking like it will be unlikely that Riot Games' tactical shooter, Valorant, will be able to play on the handheld console.

Can You Play Valorant on Steam Deck?

It may be a bit disheartening for those who really would like to try a shooter to the caliber of Valorant on the Steam Deck. Unless Riot Games' developers help collaborate for compatibility on the console, the anti-cheat software that Valorant uses for the game may not allow the game to run. This isn't the only instance that a game wouldn't be able to run on the Steam Deck as even Apex Legends' anti-cheat software still is in need of a workaround in order for it to run.

The reason for it is due to the Steam Deck's operating system, SteamOS. It is a Linux-based operating system, but its difference is that the Steam Deck will come with Valve's Proton, a compatibility layer that allows Windows games to be played on a Linux system. Issues between anti-cheat software and Proton are known simply because it doesn't operate properly, likely due to the translation between two different operating systems.

If there was some way for Valorant to work on the Steam Deck, Valorant players will have to be just as creative as their League of Legends counterparts as they too may run into issues. And if Valorant was able to run on the console, players may have to find a way to turn their native Linux machine into a Windows one - which may cost a full Windows license as well.

Whether or not Riot Games' Vanguard anti-cheat software will be able to seed itself into the Steam Deck's kernel and translate it well is hard to say. Perhaps, there will be no workaround for it and Steam Deck users will have to play Valorant on a proper PC instead. All players can hope for is that Valve and Riot Games work together in order to implement their anti-cheat software onto the Linux console.

It's a maybe at best.