Steam Deck owner rents theater to play games on massive screen

A Steam Deck owner has rented out a movie theatre to play 8-player split-screen Minecraft and Call of Duty: Black Ops II co-op on the big screen using the Valve handheld.

Valve’s Steam Deck continues to be used in a series of clever ways. Thanks in part to its portability, the high-powered handheld has been spotted powering Star Wars droids at Disneyland, to controlling vehicles intended to explore the surface of the moon. Now, one Steam Deck owner has decided to take the handheld on a night out to the movies, using it to host an 8-player co-op gaming session on the big screen.

r/SteamDeck user Visual_Performer1665 posted images showing off their Valve handheld being used to play games with friends. But there’s a twist, Instead of having the handheld connected to a gaming monitor, the Steam Deck is connected to a cinema screen. There, it was used to play Minecraft, Call of Duty: Black Ops II, and Super Smash Bros Ultimate all with 8-player split-screen co-op.

“Yes! I am that crazy lad who rented out a movie theatre last year for my graduation party with the Steam Deck! This time, I decided to do the same thing except a bit bigger and beyond”, Visual_Performer1665 exclaimed in their Reddit post.

Renting out cinema screens for gaming isn’t anything new. Some local independent cinemas offer private renting for gaming and exclusive screenings. However, having up to eight players split-screen at the movies is an impressive use of the PC gaming handheld.

To get it running, the Steam Deck had to be dual-booted to run Windows and SteamOS. With Windows on the Steam Deck, this meant Nucleus Co-Op could be installed. The free and open-source tool allows Windows, and Windows-based devices, to run split-screen on games that don’t natively support it.

With Nucleus Co-Op installed, a Steam Deck dock, and two USB extenders, the Steam Deck could connect to the projection screen via HDMI. According to Visual_Performer1665, with this setup, Minecraft ran at a “perfect” 60 FPS, with Call of Duty: Black Ops II running at 60 FPS on its lowest graphical settings. A Super Smash Bros Ultimate tournament was also held, running on the Steam Deck through emulation, which had a “flawless performance” on the handheld.

Visual_Performer1665 shared in the comments that renting out the movie theatre costs around $600. While that’s more than a Steam Deck itself, this included having the screen for four hours, along with free food and drinks. The Redditor hopes by sharing the details of their Steam Deck-fueled cinema gaming session, others will feel inspired to follow suit.