Microsoft's xCloud streaming service "works well" on Steam Deck

News
By published

"I can say it's a really nice device"

Steam Deck
(Image credit: Valve)

Microsoft's streaming service, xCloud, will work on Valve's Steam Deck.

The announcement came courtesy of Xbox boss Phil Spencer, who teased that earlier this week, he'd spent time with the team at Valve, experimenting with Steam Deck and confirming that "Halo" and "Age" (presumably Age of Empires) "feels good" on Valve's new handheld system.

While it stops short of confirming how, exactly, the streaming service will work on Steam Deck, it's the first time we've had confirmation that Microsoft's streaming service is compatible with Steam Deck.

"Was @valvesoftware this week talking [with Valve staff] Scott, Erik, Gabe about Steam Deck," Xbox'a Spencer casually mentioned on Twitter earlier today (thanks, NME). "After having mine most of the week I can say it's a really nice device. Games with me on the go, screen size, controls all great. Playing Halo and Age feels good, xCloud works well. Congrats [the Steam Deck] team."

Did you catch Rachel's recent hands-on preview with the Steam Deck in which she said the highest compliment she could pay to Valve's Steam Deck is: would Valve really press charges if she slipped one into her bag as she left?

"We've been looking at and working towards the Steam Deck idea for a long time now," Valve designer Scott Dalton told GamesRadar+ in a recent interview. "We only within the last six months passed over a threshold where we felt like we could actually deliver AAA current titles at good frame rates. All the things you would want out of playing your library.

"Being able to hold it in your hands, the battery – there are a bunch of things that have to reach this performance per watt measurement and we've only very recently gotten there."

Missed the big announcement of Valve's all-new Steam Deck? Compared by many to be the PC equivalent of the Nintendo Switch, the Steam Deck is a handheld PC that enables you to carry your Steam library with you wherever you go, and has been balanced to perform equally well regardless of whether it's docked or on the move.

Vikki Blake
Vikki Blake
Weekend Reporter, GamesRadar+

Vikki Blake is GamesRadar+'s Weekend Reporter. Vikki works tirelessly to ensure that you have something to read on the days of the week beginning with 'S', and can also be found contributing to outlets including the BBC, Eurogamer, and GameIndustry.biz. Vikki also runs a weekly games column at NME, and can be frequently found talking about Destiny 2 and Silent Hill on Twitter.