Valve’s Steam Deck is now shipping out to early preorderers of the handheld PC device. It’s a new idea, a proprietary console made by Valve with a custom Linux-based OS designed specifically for PC games. As with most new ideas, there are still some kinks to work out. Take for exampleFinal Fantasy 14, which was advertised for the Steam Deck by Valve CEO Gabe Newell. A new update for the MMO has renderedFinal Fantasy 14completely unplayable on the Steam Deck, with no fix in sight.
The latest update forFinal Fantasy 14reportedly forces the use of a new launcher through Steam. This launcher, unlike the previous, does not fully support Linux and so does not support the Steam Deck’s OS. What happens is the launcher now has a forced login process linking a player’s Steam Account with theirSquare EnixFinal Fantasy 14account. The new launcher isn’t able to complete this action on Linux, so the game will freeze upon starting – assumedly because of its inability to log in to both Steam and Square Enix’s accounts.
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What makes the situation worse, unfortunately, is that those who purchasedFinal Fantasy 14on Steamare locked into that platform. There’s no way to transferFinal Fantasy 14accounts on Steam to Square Enix’s own platform. As such, anyFinal Fantasy 14players planning on using Steam Deck now have no recourse until an official solution can be made. They’re stuck on Steam, but unable to use Steam Deck.
To be clear, as frustrating as this change may be forSteam Deck buyerswho playFinal Fantasy 14, there was never a promise of support for the platform.Final Fantasy 14has always been listed as “Unsupported” in Steam’s database and Square Enix has made no statement regarding whether it planned to support the device.
If players do have a fair reason to be angry, it’s thatGabe Newelldid show and talk aboutFinal Fantasy 14on the Steam Deck prior to its release. Some Steam Deck buyers may have gotten the wrong idea from that. On the other hand, maybe Newell will do his best to get officialFinal Fantasy 14support for Steam Deck now.
As of right now, however,Final Fantasy 14does not work on Steam Deck and there’s no workaround for the foreseeable future. That may change in time, butFinal Fantasy 14playersshouldn’t make any assumptions about Steam Deck support until it’s done.
Final Fantasy 14is available now on PC, PS4, and PS5.
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