Valve Introduces Steam Frame and Steam Machine Verification Standards at GDC 2026

At GDC 2026 this week, Valve explained how its new verification badges will work with the upcoming Steam Machine and Steam Frame .

To receive the "Steam Machine Verified" badge, a game must run at a stable 30 frames per second at native 1080p, even though marketing materials promote 4K at 60fps with FSR . Any Steam Deck Verified title automatically counts as Steam Machine Verified, because the new hardware has much more headroom than the handheld. Valve also requires full gamepad support, correct button prompts, and SteamOS compatibility, including smooth handling of launchers, anti‑cheat, sign‑in flows, and more, PC Guide reports .

The Steam Frame uses a different bar. Valve tests only standalone performance on the Snapdragon‑based headset and does not verify PC‑streamed play. For VR games running directly on the headset, the company sets a 90fps target at the device's intended resolution, and for 2D games on a virtual screen, it sets 30fps at 1280×720 as the requirement for the "Steam Frame Verified" badge.

Steam Frame uses SteamOS on ARM64. It adds Proton with FEX to run x86 games and includes a new Lepton layer for Android apps. This means that verification checks cover these areas as well.

Valve says developers will use the same Steamworks pipeline for the Steam Machine and Steam Frame as on the Steam Deck, with the familiar Verified, Playable, Unsupported, and Unknown labels carrying over to the new hardware.