Can you play MW3 on Steam Deck? Modern Warfare 3 Steam Deck compatibility explained

If you want to stack up kills and call in nukes while away from your keyboard, you may, at some point, have asked: Can you play MW3 on Steam Deck? Now that the CoD series is no longer exclusive to the Battle.net platform, this has become a real possibility for the first time, so we’ll explore Modern Warfare 3’s compatibility with the Valve handheld console here.

With the arrival of the MW3 Season 1 release date inching ever closer, there’s never been a better time to get into the thick of things with Activision’s newest shoot ’em up, especially after the addition of more MW3 maps and operators. So, without wasting any more time, let’s take a look at whether you can play MW3 on the Steam Deck below.

Is MW3 Steam Deck compatible?

Yes, you can play MW3 on the Steam Deck, but you’ll have to install Windows 11 to run it. This is mainly because of the Ricochet Anti-Cheat system’s presence in the game, which, although helpful in preventing hackers from running rampant in lobbies, makes running it more complicated than usual.

It’s also worth noting that Modern Warfare 3’s performance on the Valve handheld system is seemingly worse compared to its predecessor’s. According to one Reddit post, “MW3 will crash if it’s on anything higher than low [settings],” whereas MW2 was playable on medium settings at 60FPS. In addition, you’ll need to remember that Activision’s newest series entry requires 149 GB of available storage space before you can install it, which is significant considering the handheld’s limited capacity.

That said, once you’ve installed Windows 11 and freed up the necessary storage space, running it should be as easy as pressing a few buttons. Before you jump back in, though, check out our guides on the MW3 Vortex mode, the MW3 gear and perks list, and the best M4 loadout in MW3.