Rainbow Six Siege and GTA 5 now “Playable” on Steam Deck, despite anti-cheat
Valve has just issued an update to its Steam Deck compatibility ratings for GTA 5 Enhanced and Rainbow Six Siege, declaring them both as Playable. That’s despite both games using the same BattlEye anti-cheat software that blocks Linux gamers, like those using Valve’s handheld gaming PC, from playing online with other gamers.
While the Steam Deck continues to be the best handheld gaming PC for most gamers, consistency with the platform’s verification ratings has been a problem for some time. While GTA 5 Enhanced’s main offline mode doesn’t require anti-cheat, GTA Online does, as does Rainbow Six Siege, leaving a question mark over why the rating has been changed.
The ratings for both games were updated earlier today, without any additional guidance from Valve regarding the playability of either game online. SteamDB pages for both GTA 5 Enhanced and Rainbow Six Siege show that compatibility entries for both games were updated at exactly the same time.
It means that GTA 5 is now listed as playable on the Steam Deck for the first time since the non-enhanced version lost its Steam Deck Playable rating when the BattlEye anti-cheat was added to the game in September 2024.
Good news for gamers? Well, not really. As I’ve mentioned, GTA 5 Enhanced is theoretically playable offline in the core offline game mode, but the GTA Online experience is too firmly integrated into the game to simply disregard – the rating just doesn’t make sense.
Declaring GTA 5 as Unplayable last year was an otherwise consistent move with earlier decisions, such as Ghost of Tsushima’s Unplayable rating when that game’s PC port launched on Steam back in May 2024. That game was rated Unplayable due to the incompatibility of SteamOS with its Legends multiplayer mode, despite the otherwise solid performance in single-player.
BattlEye, the anti-cheat component used in both games, is a popular option among developers, used in games including Destiny 2, PUBG, and Fortnite, among others. While BattlEye does technically support Linux, it’s up to developers to add support for it in their games. For the most part, development teams have instead chosen to block Linux support entirely, stopping gamers (like those with a Steam Deck running SteamOS) from playing online at all.
That’s why the change in Steam Deck compatibility for both games is a confusing one that makes the system even less consistent than before. It’s even more confusing when you consider Rainbow Six Siege, a multiplayer FPS that, by definition, requires its online components to work correctly for gamers to want to play it.
While playable in the sense that the game runs, a Steam Deck Playable rating for this game is arguably more absurd than for GTA 5 Enhanced, as gamers won’t really be able to do much with the game installed.
Outside of the update, Valve hasn’t made any public comment about the playability of both games. While an update to BattlEye to support Linux in both games would be vastly welcomed by Steam Deck gamers, it’s very unlikely that we’ll be seeing that here. For now, if you’re a Steam Deck gamer who wants to play these games online, you’ll need to install Windows on the device to do so.
If you’re new to handhelds, you might want to consider a Windows-only option like the Asus ROG Ally X as an alternative, which won’t have the anti-cheat complications you’re seeing here. You can check out our Asus ROG Ally X review to read our thoughts about the powerful Steam Deck competitor.
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