Steam Machine Is Here: Finding Multiplayer Games for Valve's New Console

Valve's living room PC just landed

The Steam Machine is officially out. Valve's compact cube-shaped PC starts at $1,049, runs SteamOS, and plays most of your Steam library from day one. Over 25,000 games should work through Proton and native Linux support.

But if you're buying this to play with friends, there's a few things worth knowing before you spend the money.

Does the Steam Machine count as PC for crossplay?

Short answer: yes, usually.

The Steam Machine runs SteamOS (Linux) but games connect through Steam's servers the same way Windows does. For crossplay purposes, most games treat it as a PC. If a game supports PC crossplay with PS5 or Xbox, it should work from the Steam Machine too.

The exception is games that use anti-cheat software that doesn't support Linux. Some competitive multiplayer games won't run at all on SteamOS. Valve maintains a compatibility list through their Deck Verified ratings, and most of those carry over to the Steam Machine.

The multiplayer question nobody's answering

Every review is talking about specs and frame rates. Nobody's covering the practical question: if you buy a Steam Machine and your friends are on PS5, Xbox, or a Windows PC, what can you actually play together?

This is where platform checking matters. A game being "on PC" doesn't automatically mean the SteamOS version works for multiplayer. Some games have multiplayer that only runs on Windows. Some have crossplay with consoles but only from the Windows client. Others work perfectly through Proton.

The point is, you need to check before you buy a game expecting to play it with friends on other platforms.

How to check what works for your group

If your gaming group just added a Steam Machine to the mix, PickThe.Games can help sort it out. Create a board, everyone picks their platform (PC covers Steam Machine since it's treated as PC for crossplay), and the app shows which games support crossplay between your group's specific platforms.

A few ways to check specific combinations:

• PC and PS5 crossplay games - every game confirmed to work between Steam/PC and PlayStation 5
• PC and Xbox crossplay games - for groups split between Steam Machine and Xbox
• PC and Switch crossplay games - for the Switch owners in your group
• Free multiplayer games - if you just spent $1,049 on hardware and don't want to drop more on games right away

Or just try swiping through games to see what's out there. No account needed.

Games that work well on Steam Machine with friends

Based on what we know about SteamOS compatibility and crossplay support, here are some safe bets for multiplayer on the Steam Machine:

Fortnite, Rocket League, Minecraft, Among Us, Fall Guys

Apex Legends, Destiny 2, Call of Duty, Overwatch 2, Dead by Daylight

Lethal Company, Valheim, Deep Rock Galactic, Satisfactory, Terraria

Some competitive shooters with kernel-level anti-cheat may not work through Proton. Check Valve's Deck Verified ratings before buying.

The living room crossplay problem

The Steam Machine is marketed as a living room device. Couch gaming with friends who are physically there is great, but the reality is most people will be playing online with friends on different platforms.

This makes crossplay compatibility the single most important factor when choosing games for the Steam Machine. A game that runs beautifully at 4K but can't connect to your friend on PlayStation isn't much use for game night.

Before your group picks tonight's game, check whether it actually works across everyone's platforms. That's the whole reason we built PickThe.Games - so nobody has to spend 20 minutes Googling crossplay compatibility in the group chat.

What this means for gaming groups

The Steam Machine adds another platform to the mix. For groups already juggling PC, PS5, Xbox, and Switch, that's potentially five different platforms around one virtual table. The games that support crossplay across all of them become even more valuable.

The good news: since the Steam Machine counts as PC for most crossplay purposes, it doesn't actually make the compatibility problem worse. If a game works between PC and PS5, it should work between Steam Machine and PS5 too.

The question is just knowing which games those are. And that's a lot easier to answer when your whole group can vote on games together instead of one person doing all the research.