It’s always a pretty contentious matter when games require an always-online connection in order to run, so there’s no doubt that many will be pleased that Activision has removed this requirement for the Steam Deck version of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 + 2.
Revealed in some very concise patch notes released yesterday (October 18), which also confirmed that “the keyboard overlay now works properly for Steam Deck users”, it was revealed, simply, that “Steam Deck users can now play offline”. This comes shortly after its October 3 Steam release.
However, Steam Deck users are the only ones who this change applies to - the regular PC Steam version still requires players to have a constant connection. The same goes for the Epic Games Store version, which was released back in 2020. Those on PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and Nintendo Switch remain unaffected, as it was already possible to play offline on consoles.
Payday 3, which was released last month on PC and consoles, is another game that requires an always-online connection. Unfortunately for the first-person shooter, it faced a plethora of server and matchmaking issues at launch, which made it difficult for players to actually get stuck in. While developer Starbreeze Studios announced at the start of this month that these problems have now been fixed, it previously stated that in the long term, it will be “evaluating a new partner for matchmaking services and making Payday 3 less dependent on online services”.
Expanding on this, Starbreeze Studios’ CEO, Tobias Sjögren, revealed on Twitter at the time that the team was looking at the possibility of adding “some sort of offline mode”, but this wasn’t confirmed to be in development, and no more has been said about the concept since.
If you own a Steam Deck, be sure to take a look at our roundup of the best Steam Deck games available to play now. Otherwise, you can check out our recommendations for the best PC games.
