Is Armored Core 6 playable on Steam Deck?

Armored Core 6 is the next title from developer FromSoftware, and players are asking some pertinent questions ahead of its release in late August. One of those questions is whether or not Armored Core 6 will be playable on Steam Deck.

The Steam Deck is a portable PC device developed by Valve. While competitors have popped up in the niche part of the PC gaming market, the Steam Deck is still widely popular amongst gamers. But not every PC game released on Steam is able to run well or run at all on the handheld device.

Today, we’ll dive into whether or not fans can expect Armored Core 6 to run on Steam Deck.

Can you play Armored Core 6 on Steam Deck?

In short, we currently do not know whether or not Armored Core 6 will be playable on Steam Deck. The developers at FromSoftware nor Valve have made any comment about any possible support for the game on the device up to this point.

With the game’s release being a month and a half away at the time of writing, it seems like players will have to find out for themselves if they can get the mech shooter up and running. Whether this is through trying to play it on their own or waiting to see others review the game’s capability on Steam Deck, we’ll likely have to wait until after launch to see how well it runs, if at all.

Related: Armored Core 6 system requirements: PC specifications

If we were to look at previous FromSoftware titles, though, the odds are not in Armored Core 6’s favor. FromSoft usually has rough PC ports, especially at launch. Taking Elden Ring as an example, the early days on PC were a nightmare for even users with top-of-the-line hardware. Frame drops, shader issues, and graphical pop-ins were only some of the problems Elden Ring faced on PC. While the game runs much better now, it can still struggle on Steam Deck in 2023.

All that being said, we still have no idea how Armored Core 6 will run on Steam Deck. If players can manage to stay around 40 FPS on low-medium settings, then we can consider that a success for users of the handheld device. We likely, however, won’t know if that’s a possibility with the game until right before or after its launch on Aug. 25.