Valve Reveals Steam Machine Verified Badge Requirements At GDC 2026

It's already been four months since Valve announced a series of new hardware products that are coming out this year, including a modern reincarnation of the Steam Machine, the Steam Frame for VR gaming, and a retooled Steam Controller. The Steam Machine is the most interesting product of the bunch, and we now have more details about the validation process for a game to be Steam Machine Verified.

Similar to Valve's approach with the Steam Deck, games for the upcoming Steam Machine will fall into one of multiple categories, depending on the level of support. They include Machine Verified, Machine Playable, Machine Unsupported, and Machine Test.

This approach gives gamers a quick and easy way to know if a particular game will run as expected on Valve's hardware. It's worked well for the Steam Deck, and it's no surprise that Valve will use a similar system for the Steam Machine. The question is, how will game support be determined?

Valve has begun to answer that question with a slide deck presented at GDC 2026. The pertinent section starts on slide 23 (about three quarters of the way down the slide deck presentation).

According to the slide deck, all Steam Deck Verified games will also be Steam Machine Verified. They will have the same input expectations as the Steam Deck and be able to maintain a steady 30 frames per second at 1080p.

Valve also confirmed that it is not planning to test the display resolution or legibility, and that it is deploying an updated API to detect hardware.

The above slide gives a high-level overview of which category games will slot into for the Steam Machine, as it pertains to the Verified program. Simply put, games not supported on the Steam Deck will also be listed as unsupported (or in testing) on the Steam Machine. Meanwhile, games that are playable on the Steam Deck will be listed as playable on the Steam Machine, and games that already have the Verified badge will also have it for the Steam Machine.

Valve also shared some pertinent details about the Steam Frame. According to the slide deck (PDF), there is no verified program for streaming on the VR headset. One of the slides says, "If it runs well on your host PC, will run will on Steam Frame," further noting that streaming is already optimized with no extra work required by the developer.

Where the Steam Frame Verified program applies is with standalone play and it includes both VR and non-VR games. Verified games must be fully playable with the Steam Frame's controllers. VR games will be required to maintain 90 FPS for a Verified badge, while the target for standalone 2D titles is 30 FPS at 1280x720. The UI must be legible, too.

Other details about Valve's hardware will have to wait, including pricing and a precise release date for its highly anticipate Steam Machine reboot. In the meantime, check out our simulated Steam Machine testing, in which we tested 27 games on a PC with similar hardware.

Shout out to Reddit user iDontKnowConfused for spotting the slide deck (PDF).