In case you missed the announcement, Valve will begin shipping the first batch of units of the Linux-based Steam Deck console in a little over three weeks, starting February 25th. If you have pre-ordered, take note - you'll need to confirm and pay within three days of being notified that it's ready to ship, or else lose your spot in the queue! Visit the Steam Deck store page to verify when you're expected to receive yours.

Here on ProtonDB, improvements continue to ship to reflect the changing Linux gaming landscape. One such change has just arrived: the home page tally now incorporates the growing Deck Verified compatibility assessments.

The 'games work' number shown previously has long been a talked about reference point for progress towards Linux gaming. But it was always an audaciously crude barometer compared to official support. Valve's important investment in the Deck Verified program combined with your reports provide the most relevant answer to what works and how to fix if it doesn't.

And so it is time to... blows into hankie... retire 'games work'. It has been replaced by something better: how many games have gotten the thumbs up here by contributors. Bucketed into whether the game has at least one, two, or three recommendations. Combined with the Deck Verified program, you now have a more nuanced and accurate glimpse of how far we've come.

But that's not all. Here's whats released since the last update:

• Badges: Deck verified compatibility status is now displayed.
• Badges: Fix: Previously, on search and explore pages, SteamDB data was used. That data determines Linux availability based on if there's anything in Steam's depot for it, regardless of if it's a playable version. Now, we only show native if Steam is selling it that way.
• Game Pages: If Steam is selling a game without official Linux support but there is a Linux build available (i.e. Rocket League), a notice is shown that you may wish to force-enable Proton and how to do so.
• Explore: A Deck Verified filter, combinable with Library and Wishlist
• Translations: zh-TW translation contributed by @laichiaheng
• Browser compatibility: polyfill.io updated to v3. This will help with some browsers (no promises). Thanks @Redeitor for raising and testing.
• Home: Popular Games: Report tallies now match the rest of the site
• Home: Popular Games: Regression fix: Thumbs now arranged in columns
• Performance: Pages render less frequently
• Search: Much snappier results
• Profile: Snappier library loading

If you have suggestions, don't hesitate to reach out to us Discord or Libera IRC. And if you can spare it, please consider supporting further development on the site via Patreon.

Thank you, and happy Groundhog Day!

--migelius (@buck)