Is WoW Steam Deck compatible? Like so many games that have stood the test of time, World of Warcraft players are always looking for new and innovative ways to play the game. The Steam Deck is one such platform that you might think WoW wasn’t made for, but it does work if you’re willing to put in the effort to download it.
Downloading World of Warcraft onto your Steam Deck is a tricky venture, and you’re going to need one of the best MicroSD cards to do it given its download size north of 85GB. That being said, the WoW system requirements are still quite a low bar to clear, the Steam Deck should run it with ease.
Is WoW Steam Deck compatible?
Yes. While WoW may not be rated by Valve, it is playable on the Steam Deck and won’t require the installation of an alternative operating system. However, there are still some hoops to jump through to get it working smoothly.
To download WoW, you first need to head into Desktop Mode, use a browser to navigate to the Battle.Net webpage, and download the launcher. Then head back to Game Mode, go into your Steam Library, and select “add a game”.
Find the Battle.Net launcher .exe file (bear in mind you may need to search for all files here), then add it to your library. Next, select the manage option and enable the “Force the use of a compatibility tool” option. Select the Proton Hotfix tool.
You can now launch Battle.Net and get WoW downloaded. Once this is done, there is still one more step before you can launch the game. Head to Cursed Forge to grab the Console Port mod. This allows you to use the Steam Deck controls in the game.
Once the .zip file is downloaded, extract it into your Battle.Net folder and run the app. It should automatically detect your installed WoW file. There is still plenty more tinkering you can do in order to set up the controller to your liking, but these are the basics for getting WoW installed and playable on your Steam Deck.
King Salami on YouTube put together a very concise video – found below – that talks through every aspect of the installation process to getting the game running if you need a visual aid.
If you prefer to stick to games that are already Steam Deck compatible without the extra effort, check out our list of the best Steam Deck games you can play right now.