Call Of Duty Modern Warfare 2 is here and Steam Deck owners are wondering if they can play it to join in the fun. Since the game is on Steam, it’s already in your library. And the whole point of the console is to have your library always with you. So, in this guide, you will find out if you can play Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 on a Steam deck and if there are any workarounds to get it running.
Can I play Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 on a Steam deck?
No, you cannot play Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 on Steam Deck. At least not out of the box without making big changes. And by big change, I mean replacing SteamOS with Windows. The reason why you can’t play Modern Warfare 2 on Steam Deck is the Ricochet anti-cheat.
Basically, SteamOS is a Linux-based operating system. Ricochet anti-cheat does not support Linux. The Windows kernel works differently than the Linux kernel. At the time of this writing, Ricochet anti-cheat only supports the Windows kernel to work. Thus, due to this incompatibility, the game will not work on Steam Deck.
But just because a game isn’t natively supported doesn’t mean you can’t run it. Actually there is a workaround.
How to launch Modern Warfare 2 on Steam Deck
As mentioned earlier, you can run CoD MW2 on it only after changing the OS to Windows from SteamOS. It’s good that Steam officially supports Windows drivers for Steam Deck. But the whole process of installing Windows on Steam Deck is a daunting task in itself. And it may or may not be worth it if you only install it for one game. Not to mention, if you plan to do this, you will have to go for broke. This is because SteamOS does not support dual boot along with Windows. Finally, you can only install Windows 10 on Steam Deck. So, here are a few things to consider before changing the OS of your Steam deck.
This guide describes if you can run Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 on Steam Deck, and how to get around it. If you’re interested in learning more about this game, be sure to check out our Modern Warfare 2 guides.