Valorant is a free-to-play 5v5 tactical shooter developed by Riot Games. It was released on June 2, 2020, for Microsoft Windows. The game is set in the near future and revolves around agents who have supernatural abilities.
Steam Deck is a relatively new device with the ability to run most Steam games without trouble. However, whether it can run Valorant is a question whose answer disappoints most gamers.
Sadly, Valorant is not playable on the Steam Deck because it requires Vanguard to launch successfully on any device, and the Steam Deck does not have the ability to run it.
Read on to learn more about Valorant on Steam Deck.
Is It Possible To Play Valorant On A Steam Deck?
The highly popular and competitive FPS game, Valorant, cannot be played on the Steam Deck. One of the main reasons is that the console does not support the Vanguard Anticheat system for Valorant, which cause the game to become conflicting with the OS.
Why Does Valorant Not Run On Steam Deck?
Valorant is a great game and not very hard on resources. Even though the Steam Deck has all hardware capable of running the game on high settings, it is the Steam Deck’s stock software that causes the game’s incompatibility.
While the Steam UI Operating System uses a compatibility software layer called PROTON to run Windows-based games in a Linux environment, it cannot provide enough anti-cheat protection.
As you might know, Valorant cannot run without the Anticheat system turned on. So, for the lack of support for Valorant’s anti-cheat system, Steam Deck’s software cannot run the game.
Turnarounds To Play Valorant On Steam Deck
Even though Steam Deck, with its stock OS, will never be able to run Valorant, players have still found a way to bypass this problem by installing Windows and using it to play Valorant.
Install Windows On Steam Deck
The only way to be able to play Valorant on the Steam Deck is by installing Windows on it. Installing Windows on a Steam Deck may seem that it might be hard to do, but in reality, it is not too difficult.
To get started with a windows installation on a Steam Deck, you will need a bootable USB drive with Windows installed on it.
Here are the steps you need to follow to complete Windows installation on your Steam Deck console.
Step 1. Connect the USB to Steam Deck using a connector.
Step 2. Open the Boot Menu by simultaneously holding the Volume Up, Quick Access, and Power Buttons.
Step 3. Choose the USB from Boot Options.
Step 4. Proceed with windows installation.
Step 5. Delete all Drive Partitions.
Step 6. Complete Windows installation using the Steam Deck’s trackpad and R2 key. You can also use the touch screen.
Step 7. Once on the Desktop, press the L2 key to open display settings.
Step 8. Switch to Landscape Mode. (the setup installs in Portrait Mode because the Steam Deck has a portrait screen with 1280*800p resolution)
Step 9. Use Major Geeks to install all available drivers. Wifi Drivers might not be available but try your luck.
Keep in mind that the Wifi and GPU drivers are a bit tricky to install and may not be available. Therefore, you will have to resort to an ethernet connection via a connector.
Conclusion
Ultimately, you will have to sacrifice the Steam UI OS if you want to run Valorant on the Steam Deck. However, it is not recommended since no GPU drivers are currently available for the device, which makes the game run a little too sour.
The lack of support for Valorant on the Steam Deck running a Steam UI may disappoint some of you, but keep looking forward to a better future. There might be a chance that Valorant and Steam Deck come together with a solution and the game finally gets its compatibility.