Destiny 2 players hoping that Bungie’s shooter would eventually be updated with Steam Deck compatibility are about to be disappointed.
It looks like the now Sony-owned company has no plans to ever bring native compatibility to Valve’s recently released handheld. According to the game’s ‘help page,’ as first reported by The Verge (via Wario64), Destiny 2 doesn’t support the Steam Deck and players could even be outright banned.
The full statement from the help page reads as follows:
“Destiny 2 is not supported for play on the Steam Deck or on any system utilizing Steam Play’s Proton unless Windows is installed and running. Players who attempt to launch Destiny 2 on the Steam Deck through SteamOS or Proton will be unable to enter the game and will be returned to their game library after a short time.
Players who attempt to bypass Destiny 2 incompatibility will be met with a game ban.”
It’s unclear why Bungie has taken this stance given the developer already ported Destiny 2 to Linux to get the game running on Google’s Stadia streaming service. Steam Deck’s SteamOS operating system is based on Linux and leverages Proton to help run Windows games that aren’t designed for Linux.
There’s a possibility that the handheld could run Destiny 2 once Windows is available for the portable, which Valve says it’s currently working on. That said, this will likely entail a complicated, multi-step process.
In a series of recent tweets, Epic Games’ CEO Tim Sweeney says that his company has no plans to bring Fortnite to the Steam Deck either despite the Linux porting process likely being a relatively straightforward process. Sweeney says Epic has concerns regarding Fortnite’s anti-cheating software running on the Steam Deck.
On the more positive side, Elden Ring plays great on the Steam Deck and features an anti-cheat system. That said, the trend of major titles not being updated with Steam Deck compatibility doesn’t bode well for the handheld’s future.
Update 03/02/2022 at 8:43amET: Added a clarification that differentiates between Proton and SteamOS.
Image credit: Bungie
