How to get Xbox Game Pass on the Steam Deck

The Steam Deck has snowballed in recognition to the purpose the place folks eagerly await its successor, the Steam Deck 2. If you wish to play AAA video games on the go, moveable handheld consoles just like the Steam Deck and the ASUS ROG Ally are the right alternative. Pairing these handheld consoles with an Xbox Sport Go subscription appears logical, providing you with entry to a rotating catalog of 1000’s of video games with out the person price of proudly owning them. Right here’s how one can get Xbox Sport Go in your Steam Deck and benefit from the latest video games at a fraction of their value.

The Steam Deck is a product from Valve, which runs the Steam storefront and hosts among the greatest video games. That makes the Xbox Sport Go a product from its trade competitor, Microsoft. Whereas Steam doesn’t have a gaming subscription service, it’s nonetheless a pure query to ask if Xbox Sport Go works on the Steam Deck.

The quick reply is that it certainly does, however the course of is advanced. There are two methods to play Xbox Sport Go video games on the Steam Deck.

The primary entails putting in Home windows in your Steam Deck in a dual-boot configuration alongside the Linux-based SteamOS. This isn’t simple and should seem formidable to people who need to play a sport via their current Xbox Sport Go subscription.

Fortunately, the second means is easier and doesn’t contain intensive tinkering, however the caveat is that you just stream the sport from Microsoft’s servers via Xbox Cloud Gaming. You add a Microsoft Edge shortcut to the Steam Library in desktop mode, letting you take pleasure in Xbox Sport Go in your Steam Deck via Cloud Gaming. The answer comes from Microsoft themselves, so that you aren’t breaking something vital in your system in any means.

These directions are meant for fanatics comfy with slight tinkering on their Steam Deck. As talked about, these directions come immediately from Microsoft and depend on Xbox Cloud Gaming. You may be streaming the video games from Microsoft’s servers and never operating them immediately in your Steam Deck, so preserve that in thoughts as you’ll need a secure web connection for a clean gaming expertise, even for offline video games.

Pre-requisites

Attaching an exterior mouse and keyboard to your Steam Deck is really helpful. You should use the contact keyboard (Steam button + X) alongside the contact show and trackpad, however it might make the method considerably simpler to execute when you used a {hardware} mouse and keyboard.

Steps: How you can set up Microsoft Edge in your Steam Deck

The primary a part of this course of entails putting in Microsoft Edge onto your handheld console. The method could be very simple:

• Boot your Steam Deck.
• Enter Desktop Mode. You are able to do so by urgent the Steam button to convey up the Steam Menu and deciding on Energy > Swap to Desktop.
• Click on the Uncover Software program Heart icon on the taskbar on the backside of the show. It resembles a procuring bag.
• Throughout the app, navigate to Functions > Web > Internet Browsers.
• Find Microsoft Edge within the listing of apps and choose Set up.
• Shut the Uncover Software program Heart when accomplished.

Steps: Including Microsoft Edge to Steam

After getting Microsoft Edge put in, it’s essential to add it to Steam:

• Return to Desktop in your Steam Deck.
• Click on the icon of the Utility Launcher.
• Choose Web, right-click on Microsoft Edge, and Add to Steam.
• Within the Add a Sport window, find Microsoft Edge. Click on the examine field subsequent to it, and choose Add Chosen Applications.

Steps: Give Microsoft Edge entry to your Steam Deck controls

As soon as Edge is added to Steam, it’s essential to give it entry to your Steam Deck controls. That is the half the place a {hardware} keyboard might be handy. Comply with these steps:

• Return to Desktop in your Steam Deck.
• Click on the icon of the Utility Launcher.
• Navigate to System > Konsole. It will open up a terminal window.
• Enter the next command into Konsole:

• Hit the Enter key in your keyboard.
• Exit Konsole by typing exit and hitting the Enter key in your keyboard.

Now you can plug in a controller or use the Steam Deck’s preset layouts inside Microsoft Edge.

Steps: Altering Microsoft Edge launch properties to open Xbox Sport Go

Subsequent, we should change how this put in Microsoft Edge browser behaves after launching. We would like it to open the Xbox Sport Go web site after we open it.

• Open Steam by clicking on the Steam icon on the desktop.
• Choose the Library tab.
• Find Microsoft Edge within the listing. Proper-click on it and choose Properties.
• Within the Launch Choices, add the next proper after “@@u @@” that’s already current there.

• Be aware that there must be an area between @@ and –window-size.
• Elective: You may change the controller format:
  • Proper-click on Microsoft Edge within the Steam Library, choose Handle > Controller format > Browse configs, and select your most popular format.
  • Choose Apply configuration after which Carried out.
• Elective: You may change the app’s title to Xbox Cloud Gaming.

And you’re accomplished! Now you can change again to Gaming mode by way of the icon on the desktop, choose Microsoft Edge within the Steam library, and log in along with your Microsoft account to take pleasure in your sport catalog on Xbox Sport Go.