Is XDefiant Steam Deck compatible?

Is XDefiant Steam Deck compatible? Ubisoft’s long-awaited competitive FPS has started its second season, and if you want to try and tackle it on the go, the Steam Deck is more than up to the task. While Ubisoft might consider its new shooter to be underperforming, its core audience is very dedicated and a roadmap is already in place for year one, taking the game through to season four.

The Steam Deck OLED gets our vote as one of the best handheld gaming PCs, and while it’s primarily a Valve-focused handheld, you can venture outside of the SteamOS to enjoy games from a variety of other launchers too. Apps like the Heroic Launcher can give you access to three new storefronts and game libraries alone, so playing XDefiant won’t be too tricky once you have the right software installed.

XDefinant is not currently rated for Steam Deck as it is only playable through Ubisoft Connect. You will need to download Ubisoft’s launcher in order to download and play the game.

To download Ubisoft Connect, you’ll either need to add Windows to your Steam Deck and dual boot, or the easier option is just to install it via Desktop Mode.

The competitive shooter uses BattlEye anti-cheat which is known to be Steam Deck and Linux-friendly in most instances. So, given that the XDefiant system requirements are low, and the anti-cheat shouldn’t cause any headaches, there’s no reason why XDefiant won’t work on Steam Deck.

As already alluded to, Ubisoft believes XDefiant is currently underperforming, which could lead to a wider launch on PC and the game coming to Steam. If this did happen, the game would then be given a Steam rating.

If you want to know what we consider to be the best Steam Deck games, check out our hand-picked list where every game has been tested so you know they work great.