I don’t always sit in front of my computer to report on the latest game releases. As a parent, I often play on Steam Deck, whether it’s while waiting for an appointment to start or end, a few minutes before bed, or for other reasons. But last week, I became obsessed with Star Wars Outlaws, and I want to take this open-world adventure with me wherever I go. So, can you play Star Wars Outlaws on Steam Deck?
Does Star Wars Outlaws work on Steam Deck?
First of all, Star Wars Outlaws isn’t natively supported on Steam Deck because it hasn’t been released on Steam yet. If you want to play it on your handheld, you’ll need to use a workaround that involves playing via Ubisoft Connect or the Epic Games Store. The best way to do this is with the Heroic Launcher. The Heroic Launcher lets you download a variety of third-party launchers, including the two I just mentioned, and download the game through them. It’s easier, but not perfect.
Unfortunately, Star Wars Outlaws doesn’t run well on Steam Deck, even with the Heroic Launcher. In fact, it doesn’t run well at all right now, and recent reports suggest that Ubisoft is asking PlayStation 5 players to restart the game with a new save file to avoid significant performance issues. That’s especially unfortunate for those who jumped in on day one and played for hours as Kay Vess.
Anyway, these performance issues plague Steam Deck players. Constant frame drops, lag, stuttering, and an overall crappy experience that’s not worth wasting your time on!
Related: How to Customize Your Speeder in Star Wars Outlaws
Will Star Wars Outlaws Finally Get Steam Deck Support?
After a somewhat rocky launch due to performance issues and exclusivity on Ubisoft Connect and the Epic Games Store, Outlaws is likely to be released on Steam. Sometimes Ubisoft takes a year to release a game on Valve’s competing platform. Other times, it takes about 6-8 months. In this case, I think it’s the latter, but we’ll have to wait and see.
I hope Ubisoft takes steps to improve Steam Deck performance when it launches on Steam, as they will have ironed out many of the game’s bugs and performance issues by then!
Did you know that there is a huge and growing list of Star Wars Outlaws tips and tricks to help you navigate the dark side of Kay Bess’ world?!
