Steam Deck gets a huge (unofficial) quality-of-life upgrade for games access

By now, Valve’s Steam Deck handheld is a fairly mature device that doesn’t have that many big problems that users need to contend with. Its biggest downside, really, is the lacking and somewhat fiddly support for third-party launchers, though a new Decky plugin aims to solve that, too.

While it’s certainly possible (and not even very difficult) to run virtually any modern third-party game launcher or storefront on the Steam Deck, it’s not something everyone will be comfortable setting up. That’s where SteamDeckBro’s NonSteamLaunchers plugin for the Decky Storefront comes into the picture, letting users quickly and easily install any third-party launchers they want and then use them to import games into the Deck’s Game Mode without any added fuss.

Steam Deck’s NonSteamLaunchers plugin is now available via the Decky Store

For posterity’s sake, it’s worth highlighting that SteamDeckBro’s NonSteamLaunchers has been available as a Desktop Mode/Linux app for some time now. “All it does,” explains the application’s author, “is install the launchers for you and also gives you automatic game shortcuts for your launchers and games.”

In other words, NonSteamLaunchers lets you add both Fortnite and the Epic Games Store to your Steam Deck, though there’s obviously no telling whether you’d be able to run it due to its anti-cheat software. Offline games such as Alan Wake 2 are a preferable option in this respect, though performance is a wholly different can of worms. The important part is that you can now download NonSteamLaunchers directly via the Decky Plugin Store, which is accessible without ever leaving the Steam Deck Game Mode interface.

This means you need to have the Decky Plugin Store already set up to be able to install the NonSteamLaunchers plugin in the first place. This might sound daunting, but since this is one of the most important and useful tweaks you could possibly make to your Steam Deck, I recommend getting it sorted out as soon as possible. The Decky is simply far too handy not to have access to it, and the fact that it’s necessary for plugins such as NonSteamLaunchers should make for ample motivation to get it up and running on your handheld, too.

Those with large game libraries on platforms such as Epic, Battle.net, Ubisoft Connect, and EA Play will likely want to give NonSteamLaunchers a shot purely for its ability to quickly and easily set up games without any added fuss. And, really, if you like playing games that aren’t natively on Steam but don’t like having to jump into Desktop Mode to get them going properly, this really is a must-have.