The current way to play Epic/GoG/Amazon games on the Steam Deck is
Switch to desktop mode
From the app store, search for Heroic Launcher and install
Launch Heroic
Put login credentials for Epic/GoG/Amazon
Wait for your library to get populated
Install the games
Add Heroic as a non-Steam application
Switch back to Big Picture mode
Launch Heroic
Play games
While the number of steps seems like a lot, if you compare against the Windows equivalent, it’s not a lot simply because Windows has no Big Picture/console mode. I personally hate the desktop mode in Windows because I’m forced to use the touchscreen constantly.
What would you like to be changed in this process?
I am aware of the set of steps, but a) I’ve had issues getting it to work in the past, particularly getting new games to install under Steam as opposed to adding them in Desktop mode every time and b) what I want is an official way to install and launch third party games, or at least third party launchers from within Steam, the way GOG Galaxy or even Heroic itself supports.
Right now, I play those on Windows handhelds instead, where the steps are:
Boot the device
Click on the launcher you want
Which is similar to doing this on Linux desktop, where the steps are:
Boot the device
Click on the launcher you want
Oh, and for the record, as I said above, Windows absolutely does have a Big Picture mode. You can set up Steam to launch on boot straight into Big Picture. If all you want is to play Steam games you never have to use the Desktop on Windows either. Because I do play a ton of GOG games and emulation over Retroarch I prefer to boot into Desktop where my launchers are pinned to the taskbar, so it’s literally one tap to open whichever launcher I want. But Steam absolutely goes into Big Picture after that. Like I said earlier the only functional difference is that the settings button brings up the proprietary screen and power manager instead of the SteamOS Game Mode alternative, but otherwise the Steam interface is much the same.
Why do people not realize this is the case? Big Picture was available on Windows (at boot, even) long before the Deck happened. I’ve been a longtime Steam-on-TV user, this isn’t new.
what I want is an official way to install and launch third party games, or at least third party launchers from within Steam
While I think this would be great for everybody, but I think the money-oriented guys inside Valve would think it’s a bad idea. If you present an easy way to install other launcher to the masses, people will be swayed away from buying from the Steam store. Valve wants publishers to stay on their store; that is their trump card. I remember someone tried putting an alternate store on Steam Store and it was quickly removed to avoid legal troubles.
Windows absolutely does have a Big Picture mode. You can set up Steam to launch on boot straight into Big Picture. If all you want is to play Steam games you never have to use the Desktop on Windows either
BigPicture in Windows is extremely nerfed compared to Bazzite/SteamOS which I have detailed in this comment and further elaborated in this post. The tl;dr version is “yes you can use BigPicture but you still have to deal with a lot of Windows shenanigans”
Source: I’m a user of both Steam Deck OLED and ROG Ally.
Yeah, man, I have a bunch of Windows handhelds and both Deck models. I… may have a problem, but I know how it works.
And yeah, I do realize that the Deck and SteamOS game mode doubles as an attempt to complete Valve’s dominance over the PC market. I just think that sucks. If GOG can allow you to integrate Epic and Steam then so can Steam. And until they do that, the Deck is less useful to me than a Windows handheld because I keep as much of my gaming library as possible within GOG.
For the record, your posts kinda misrepresent how Big Picture works in practice. Like I said, yeah, you can’t change power and screen settings (and bluetooth) directly on Steam, but most Windows handhelds have a shortcut button with those options in it that is, let’s be honest, just copying the Steam version. Depending on your brand it is more or less useful, but it’s not like you have to whip out a mouse to do those things. I still think most of those implementations are worse than SteamOS’s fully integrated version, and Big Picture over Windows is overall a bit laggier and less responsive… but I mean, it’s close enough and it absolutely beats being cut off from several thousand games.
While I don’t agree with you on the usability of Big Picture on Windows, I certainly agree with you on one point; it would be great if other game launchers could be seamlessly installed on the Steam Deck.
However I’m happy that other launchers are available for those who go through the slightly lengthy process.
PS: I don’t agree there are 1000s of games not able to run on the Steam Deck, it’s mostly these games on the list. (https://areweanticheatyet.com/)
No, I’m not saying I’m cut off from running thousands of games. I’m cut off from thousands of games that I own already in other libraries and I can’t play on a Steam Deck out of the box.
Most of them would gladly run just fine if I bought them off of Valve. But since I already bought them I’m not buying them again. So I’m cut off. So I’ll default to Windows until that changes.
The current way to play Epic/GoG/Amazon games on the Steam Deck is
While the number of steps seems like a lot, if you compare against the Windows equivalent, it’s not a lot simply because Windows has no Big Picture/console mode. I personally hate the desktop mode in Windows because I’m forced to use the touchscreen constantly.
What would you like to be changed in this process?
I am aware of the set of steps, but a) I’ve had issues getting it to work in the past, particularly getting new games to install under Steam as opposed to adding them in Desktop mode every time and b) what I want is an official way to install and launch third party games, or at least third party launchers from within Steam, the way GOG Galaxy or even Heroic itself supports.
Right now, I play those on Windows handhelds instead, where the steps are:
Which is similar to doing this on Linux desktop, where the steps are:
Oh, and for the record, as I said above, Windows absolutely does have a Big Picture mode. You can set up Steam to launch on boot straight into Big Picture. If all you want is to play Steam games you never have to use the Desktop on Windows either. Because I do play a ton of GOG games and emulation over Retroarch I prefer to boot into Desktop where my launchers are pinned to the taskbar, so it’s literally one tap to open whichever launcher I want. But Steam absolutely goes into Big Picture after that. Like I said earlier the only functional difference is that the settings button brings up the proprietary screen and power manager instead of the SteamOS Game Mode alternative, but otherwise the Steam interface is much the same.
Why do people not realize this is the case? Big Picture was available on Windows (at boot, even) long before the Deck happened. I’ve been a longtime Steam-on-TV user, this isn’t new.
While I think this would be great for everybody, but I think the money-oriented guys inside Valve would think it’s a bad idea. If you present an easy way to install other launcher to the masses, people will be swayed away from buying from the Steam store. Valve wants publishers to stay on their store; that is their trump card. I remember someone tried putting an alternate store on Steam Store and it was quickly removed to avoid legal troubles.
BigPicture in Windows is extremely nerfed compared to Bazzite/SteamOS which I have detailed in this comment and further elaborated in this post. The tl;dr version is “yes you can use BigPicture but you still have to deal with a lot of Windows shenanigans”
Source: I’m a user of both Steam Deck OLED and ROG Ally.
Yeah, man, I have a bunch of Windows handhelds and both Deck models. I… may have a problem, but I know how it works.
And yeah, I do realize that the Deck and SteamOS game mode doubles as an attempt to complete Valve’s dominance over the PC market. I just think that sucks. If GOG can allow you to integrate Epic and Steam then so can Steam. And until they do that, the Deck is less useful to me than a Windows handheld because I keep as much of my gaming library as possible within GOG.
For the record, your posts kinda misrepresent how Big Picture works in practice. Like I said, yeah, you can’t change power and screen settings (and bluetooth) directly on Steam, but most Windows handhelds have a shortcut button with those options in it that is, let’s be honest, just copying the Steam version. Depending on your brand it is more or less useful, but it’s not like you have to whip out a mouse to do those things. I still think most of those implementations are worse than SteamOS’s fully integrated version, and Big Picture over Windows is overall a bit laggier and less responsive… but I mean, it’s close enough and it absolutely beats being cut off from several thousand games.
While I don’t agree with you on the usability of Big Picture on Windows, I certainly agree with you on one point; it would be great if other game launchers could be seamlessly installed on the Steam Deck.
However I’m happy that other launchers are available for those who go through the slightly lengthy process.
PS: I don’t agree there are 1000s of games not able to run on the Steam Deck, it’s mostly these games on the list. (https://areweanticheatyet.com/)
No, I’m not saying I’m cut off from running thousands of games. I’m cut off from thousands of games that I own already in other libraries and I can’t play on a Steam Deck out of the box.
Most of them would gladly run just fine if I bought them off of Valve. But since I already bought them I’m not buying them again. So I’m cut off. So I’ll default to Windows until that changes.