Steam's October Updates: Stable Changes, Remote Play Fixes, and SteamOS Beta

Valve shipped several different updates between October 9 and 16, 2026. Here is what matters when deciding whether a change applies to your handheld.

Stable client: October 13

The stable Steam client added Big Art Mode under Settings > Home and screensavers under Settings > Customization. Compatibility-tool selection is now always visible, with a Default option. Windows executables added as non-Steam games use Proton by default. These are client changes, not a claim that every Windows game becomes compatible.

Beta client: October 9–16

The October 9 beta notes disabled HDR when streaming to Steam Deck OLED. They also addressed streaming startup with cloud conflicts and added fallback to H.264 when HEVC is unavailable. Do not assume the earlier OLED HDR streaming feature remains available on every client branch.

October 10 addressed crashes in streaming dialogs; October 12 fixed HEVC hardware encoding on Deck. On October 15, the Linux beta client became a 64-bit application running inside a Steam Runtime container. That release also introduced achievement sets and Remote Play display stretching/zooming controls. October 16 addressed Vulkan games hanging after alt-tab in Desktop Mode.

SteamOS 3.9.3: October 16

This is a Beta/Preview operating-system release. Newly listed fixes include GPU errors in The Crew Motorfest and audio problems when certain monitors are hot-plugged. Its cumulative 3.9 notes also list preliminary Legion Go 2 brightness control and a Forza Horizon 6 launch-crash fix on that device; these are not all newly introduced in 3.9.3.

Before troubleshooting

Record both your Steam client branch and SteamOS version. A beta release note does not establish stable-channel availability, and an OS update is separate from a client update. These notes contain no Atlas FPS measurements.

Sources: Valve's dated release notes, checked October 20, 2026: https://www.steamdeck.com/en/news/ https://www.steamdeck.com/en/news/?p=2