The top 100 list has already been posted, but I thought this article makes some interesting observations on the list.
Overall the variety of games and experiences on that list really show how versatile the deck is, and that people can still have a great time with games that aren’t a perfect experience on the deck.
I’m honestly amazed to see AAA games constantly at the top of the SD most-played list.
BG3, Helldivers, CP2077, etc.
I have tried some of these, and while they work just fine, it’s typically not a great experience LOL
Yeah, I’m curious about that as well. Makes me wonder if a lot of Steam Deck owners don’t own other gaming PCs, or if they just value portability/etc over graphics and framerate.
I’d actually bet it’s something different…
It’s less that you game on a steam deck because it’s portable, and more that because it’s portable you can game. There are people here and there that are like “yeah, I have a steam deck so I use that instead” but the sentiment I see more often is “I wouldn’t be able to game at all if it wasn’t portable - I can’t sit down for that long, I only have time on the train, I need to be near my kids” etc.
And this changes the dynamic. It’s less that these people have “desktop gaming” and “portable gaming” and are choosing to play the AAA games while portable. They only have portable gaming. And they choose to play the same good games everyone else is playing. The only gaming they do is on their deck. And they’re not going to be like “oh, why play a good game like BG3 if I can play a shitty portable game like xyz”.
These are just people’s primary gaming devices now. And if they can, they will choose to play the same good games everyone else is choosing to play. It doesn’t matter if it only runs OK, playing a good game with OK graphics is still better than playing a shitty game.