Valve published an upbeat Steam Deck video on Thursday, announcing that its handheld gaming PC was finally available to order without a reservation (opens in new tab). The video also celebrated the arrival of the Steam Deck dock and OS improvements that make the Deck work better with external displays. But gaming Twitter newshound Nibellion (opens in new tab) also spotted something surprising in the Steam Deck library in Valve’s video: an icon for Nintendo Switch emulator Yuzu (opens in new tab). You can see it above, hanging out next to Hades on the home screen’s recent games list.
After Nibellion’s tweet got a couple thousand retweets Friday morning, Valve delisted the video and uploaded a new version (opens in new tab) without Yuzu visible. The original video (opens in new tab) is now set to private.
Valve has long maintained that the Steam Deck is a PC, and thus yours to customize and use for whatever software you see fit. But it understandably hasn’t promoted the Deck as an emulation device (even though it’s a really, really good one (opens in new tab)). Yuzu is a legal, open source piece of software, but not one that Nintendo is exactly thrilled exists.
Back in March, when Steam Deck reviews first landed, Nintendo started issuing DMCA takedowns (opens in new tab) on YouTube videos that showed Nintendo Switch games running on Valve’s handheld. You can find more of those videos on YouTube now, so Nintendo may have eased up on the takedowns. Still, considering Valve and Nintendo have a friendly enough relationship to put Portal on the Switch, the safe political move here is probably not tacitly endorsing Switch emulation on the Steam Deck.
I’ve reached out to Valve for comment on the video and will update this story if I receive a reply.
