Can you play Black Ops 7 on the Steam Deck?

While the Black Ops 7 Steam Deck rating has yet to be confirmed, changes made to the requirements for Activision's Ricochet anti-cheat system eliminate SteamOS compatibility, preventing the game from running on the best gaming handheld on our buying guide.

Following in the footsteps of games such as Apex Legends, Battlefield 6, and Destiny 2, Black Ops 7 isn't expected to work on the Steam Deck due to the game's inclusion of an anti-cheat system that's incompatible with the deck.

Is Black Ops 7 Steam Deck compatible?

Black Ops 7 does not yet have an official Steam Deck rating. Despite this, we are confident that the game will have an Unsupported rating, due to Ricochet anti-cheat requiring secure boot and TMP 2.0 to be activated, which is not possible on SteamOS.

This update to the Ricochet anti-cheat system was deployed with the launch of Season 5 Reloaded in Call of Duty Black Ops 6 in September 2025. It follows similar requirements for games such as Battlefield 6 and Valorant, both of which also don't work on the Steam Deck for the same reasons.

However, if you're using a Windows-based handheld, such as the ROG Ally X, then you'll technically have no issues launching Black Ops 7. However, playability will depend on it meeting the game's system requirements, which are not yet available.

If you're keen to take on some titles that do work great on Valve's handheld, you can check out our guide to the best Steam Deck games, which includes everything from indie titles to triple-A blockbusters.

Do you wish you could play more competitive shooters on your Steam Deck, or are these games best saved for a desktop PC? Let us know over on our community Discord server.