It is not worthless. Steam Deck verified does not mean the game runs perfectly fine. The bugs and performance of the game is not what the verification is meant for. Does the game run on Steam Deck the same as if it was running on Windows? If yes, then its verified. If the game runs buggy and has performance issues on Windows too, then its not the fault of the Proton translation layers.

I think lot of people misunderstand what the verification means. If you click the icon you showed us in your meme, then you would see the bulletpoints with explanation what makes it to be a verified game.

Absolutely nothing about comparing to a Windows build.

Valve’s testing indicates that [title] is Verified on Steam Deck. This game is fully functional on Steam Deck, and works great with the built-in controls and display.

• All functionality is accessible when using the default controller configuration
• This game shows Steam Deck controller icons
• In-game interface text is legible on Steam Deck
• The game’s default graphics configuration performs well on Steam Deck

With your logic, a game would need to ship a Windows build in order to achieve “Steam Deck verified”, and any title that only ships a Linux build is automatically disqualified. But that is not how the certification system works. It is certifying that the title runs well on Steam Deck according to these few arbitrary criteria. That is it.

If the game is an absolute broken unplayable mess on Steam Deck, but at least the controller icons match, the text is legible, etc., Valve will certify it. You will not want to play it because it it is a buggy mess, but at least it got a green check!

On the other hand, ProtonDB is more granular about allowing actual users to lay out what problems a game may have. It is just a more transparent system that is actually usable as a metric to determine how well a title is likely to run on Steam Deck.