Tears of the Kingdom: Can You Play TotK on Steam Deck? Answered

A new The Legend of Zelda game always creates a lot of buzz, and that’s the case with The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom as well. The game expands on the lore of Hyrule and brings new skills for Link to master. Tears of the Kingdom brings so much content that it takes players more than 50 hours to just get through the main story and up to 200 hours to explore every single aspect of the game.

Even if you don’t own a Nintendo Switch, you might still be interested in taking a peek at what the gaming community is losing its wits about. Steam Deck owners might be particularly hopeful to try this game on their portable devices, but the question remains—can you play Tears of the Kingdom on Steam Deck? Let’s explore the answers together!

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Can You Play Tears of the Kingdom on Steam Deck?

If you’re not new to the Zelda series and Nintendo games in general, you probably know that all Nintendo titles are exclusives. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom was developed for Nintendo Switch only, and this game won’t be available on any other store or for any other console and gaming device in the foreseeable future. Therefore, unfortunately, you cannot play Tears of the Kingdom on Steam Deck via any official method.

While this may be a disappointment for many gamers who might want to try Tears of the Kingdom but are still not close to the decision to buy a Switch, we do see where Nintendo is coming from. Exclusivity is not only Nintendo’s trait—it is fairly common in the gaming industry at the moment.

However, not all is lost. There are ways to get The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom on your Steam Deck—they’re just not legal. Thanks to several popular emulators, you can technically play various Nintendo games on other devices, but this would require you to dabble in pirated content, which is illegal, and we do not recommend it.

All in all, if you decide to get a Switch and fire up this Zelda game, come back to our dedicated Tears of the Kingdom section where you can find numerous useful guides to help you with your adventures in Hyrule.