I’ve been Linux-only for something like 15 years, which is before Steam ever came to Linux. Over the past 5-ish years, my game selection has gone from “most games will work if I tinker” to “most games just work w/ no effort needed.”
I’ve completed well over a hundred games on Linux, many of those AAA, “Windows-only” games, and I’ve played over a hundred more. The last time I had to do any kind of tinkering was for a janky old game, but most newer titles just work.
If you don’t need games w/ anticheat, Steam on Linux works incredibly well.
While it’s true I haven’t personally tried more than about a dozen of my games I will point out that 1) that covers a wide swath of genres, publishers, and game engines, and 2) I ran my entire library of several thousand games through protondb before hand to have some idea of what I was in for and out of all those thousands less than 10 reported as not functioning. Of the ones that wouldn’t work most actually can run, but the publishers are banning people who play under Linux. The most notable from that list would be Destiny 2 and GTA 5. So yes greater than 90% of all games run fine in Linux these days either straight out of the box or with simple configuration tweaks.
I would say most anticheat works (although some games specifically choose to not allow Linux). It’s just kernel level anticheat that flat out doesn’t work (which is malware anyway)
although some games specifically choose to not allow Linux
Yup, that’s the kicker. Most games w/ anticheat could work on Linux, but devs refuse to do the minimal work to enable the Linux-compatibility (in many cases, it’s a checkbox and re-export the game). So the main thing that needs to happen is more Linux adoption. The more people that use Linux, the more pressure there will be on devs to check that box.
Years ago I switched to Linux on my PC and everything was fine. But there was a game I wanted to play that didn’t work on Linux, so I created a small Windows partition to dual boot. Later, that game became two, then three, and so on. I had to reformat some partitions to ntfs (iirc I was using reiserfs) to expand available storage for Windows to add more games. Then at one point I realized it’s been a while since I’ve booted into Linux and I don’t even know if it still works.
So yeah, use whatever fits your needs. I’ll always pick Linux PC or Mac for work, but I’ll stick with Windows for gaming.
For context, I’ve been on computers since the 8bit era and I’ve been programming for just as long. I prefer the power of a terminal over GUIs, my “IDE” of choice is vim. I use Git Bash in Windows for access to Linux-style commands. So yeah, I am technical and I prefer Linux for practical reasons. But when I want to play a game I want to just start it and play it, not work for days to maaaybe get it to mostly run fine except for some features.
Edit: one of the games I had to use Windows for was League. A competitive online game with anti-cheat features.
Edit2: note that this was many years ago and some other games I needed Windows for will now probably work on Linux effortlessly. At least one has native support for Linux now.
This used to work fine on Linux, but maybe that’s changed.
I play almost no competitive games, so it’s extremely rare for me to find something that doesn’t work on Linux. So YMMV, list the top games you play and check compatibility w/ Linux, hopefully you’ll be surprised at how far Linux has come. If not, it’s up to you to decide whether it’s worth using Windows 11 to play those games.
I’ve been using Linux exclusively for something like 15 years, and the selection of games went from “a handful of Linux titles + a handful more through WINE” to “most games just work through Steam when I push play.” That said, it’s not 100%, but I’m stubborn enough that I’d prefer to avoid a game rather than boot into Windows, and my Windows partition hasn’t been booted into for years (and the last time was to test some Windows-specific app for a friend).
That’s been pretty much a similar experience I used to have. Especially online games often suffer from poor Linux support because anti-cheat systems aren’t working, or not up-to-date, or something else entirely. It just felt like there was always something. I just want to boot up my PC and get going. Not boot it up and having to spend half the evening trying to figure out why a random driver/game/anti-cheat update destroyed everything that was working fine.
I’d be fine trying it again, but I know that a few games I play are still struggling with Linux issues, judging by the regular posts popping up on the related social media platforms.
I was similar, used Linux for work/programming but Windows for gaming. I refuse to update to Win 11 though, and with 10 going EOL I was faced with a problem. I’ve been using Steam Deck for about a year now with no problems so I figured I’d try going 100% Linux again. Ran my Library through protondb and nearly every single game was supported. I made the cutover about a month ago (just in time as well as literally a week before I made the switch copilot got stealth installed on my system).
So far I haven’t run into a single game that has failed or that I’ve even needed to change the options to get running. Now I don’t play LoL so I can’t speak to that specific game, and I have kept my Win 10 install if I do run into something that I can’t get running that I absolutely can’t live without, but so far I haven’t needed to boot into Windows since I made the switch. I think you might be surprised how few games won’t function in Linux these days.
I recently switched (again… again again) I am on Linux (Nobara) for good now. All the games I play either work natively, through proton, or Lutris. The worst I have to do is use a different proton version or add in a launch option.
The worst I have to do is use a different proton version or add in a launch option.
And therein lies the problem that keeps most people from switching to Linux. It’s a super simple thing to do, but Linux users fall into the same fallacy that experts in any field do: just how little the average person knows about the subject. The fact that something doesn’t just work when you try to open it would leave many people stumped. Especially with tech literacy rates declining thanks to kids growing up using mostly cell phones as their daily driver rather than an actual computer and the plug and play nature of Windows and Macs. Asking your average gamer to add command line arguments to a launcher would probably be like telling them they just have to hot wire their car if it doesn’t start when you turn the key.
To be fair, the number of times I’ve had to tinker has drastically reduced since the Steam Deck came out. I used to check protondb.com before installing a game, and now I don’t bother. Games tend to “just work,” and it’s getting better all the time.
I’ve been Linux-only since before Steam came to Linux, so I’ve seen the entire evolution from “try your luck w/ WINE” to “click play and it just works.”
Now is a great time to jump into Linux gaming, and if you stick to the Steam Deck Verified titles, you’ll probably never need to tinker. If you venture out to “Steam Deck Playable,” you’ll probably never need to tinker. Honestly, even a lot of the unsupported titles work just fine w/ no tinkering.
So I’m still using Windows on my desktop, but from my experience with Proton on Steam Deck, Proton works pretty flawlessly essentially translating the windows exe. I’m assuming it’s the same for a Linux desktop setup but I’ll let others who actually have experience here comment further. The only thing that you may have issues with are competitive online games, but those aren’t really my jam but understandable if they are for you.
That’s the thing. I play a lot of online games, not specifically competitive games, but they frequently do use stuff like EAC. And the amount of times I’ve seen EAC issues paired with Linux posts pop up on various social platforms is ridiculous. It seems like a recurring thing that requires constant maintenance. Not to mention I use Windows for more than just games. Stuff like Adobe doesn’t even work on Linux and probably won’t be anytime soon either (and no I am not going to use alternative programs).
The effort and time it takes to get stuff working on Linux usually isn’t worth it, and then there’s hoping that everything stays working whenever something gets updated.
It’s quite ridiculous how a lot of people on this platform take it as a personal insult though. The article title is complete clickbait anyway.
Yeah, if you’re largely playing online games w/ anti-cheat, you’re going to have a rough time on Linux. But if you’re largely playing single-player games w/o anti-cheat, you’ll probably never need to tinker.
YMMV absolutely applies here. I personally play almost no online games (I just don’t have the time), so pretty much everything I play just works OOTB. I’ve finished well over a hundred games on Linux, and very few needed any form of tinkering, and I haven’t needed to adjust a launch parameter for the last couple years (last time I did was for a really old game, newer games generally just work).
No one is taking anything here as a personal insult outside of your own mind. More likely than not they simply think your effort doesn’t count for much as gaming on Linux is stellar out of the box.
I agree with you on that last bit. Pretty fucking annoying to see people act like Linux is perfectly fine for games which give new people some hope only to be frustrated and quit when they realize it’s not as fine as people make it out to be
They don’t realize that its hurting the chances of people actually adopting linux when they say misleading shit
For now linux is worth dual booting. Use linux for everything else and windows for gaming
All you have to do is check this website to check support quality for your games https://www.protondb.com/, and then decide if you want to quit. I think you don’t realize how low effort it is now, not more effort that escaping from Microsoft’s waves of enshitification.
Honestly, you probably don’t even need to check them. If they’re Steam Deck Verified, they’ll probably just work. If they’re Steam Deck Playable, they’ll probably just work (most common issues are controls or small text, neither is an issue on desktop/laptop).
You honestly only need to check protondb if you have an issue, or maybe if you’re buying a game that’s “Unsupported” or something. 9/10 times, just clicking Play will work fine if it’s a single player game.
Until games fully support Linux or the other way around, I won’t be using Linux.
Also can’t really say that I care about Copilot that much. I don’t use it and it doesn’t bother me.
Edit: lol the people triggered by this will never not be entertaining.
It’s always the same “Games work fine on Linux… But…”. And it’s that “but” that’s usually a massive problem or nuisance to work with.
No thanks. I’ll stick to Windows for gaming just fine.
Most games work on linux with proton nowdays. Only thing that doesnt really work is games with anticheat.
Yeah I switched to Linux about a month ago now and so far every game I’ve tried has worked flawlessly.
A whole month? You must’ve tried at least a dozen games
Pack em up boys, all games work in Linux
I’ve been Linux-only for something like 15 years, which is before Steam ever came to Linux. Over the past 5-ish years, my game selection has gone from “most games will work if I tinker” to “most games just work w/ no effort needed.”
I’ve completed well over a hundred games on Linux, many of those AAA, “Windows-only” games, and I’ve played over a hundred more. The last time I had to do any kind of tinkering was for a janky old game, but most newer titles just work.
If you don’t need games w/ anticheat, Steam on Linux works incredibly well.
While it’s true I haven’t personally tried more than about a dozen of my games I will point out that 1) that covers a wide swath of genres, publishers, and game engines, and 2) I ran my entire library of several thousand games through protondb before hand to have some idea of what I was in for and out of all those thousands less than 10 reported as not functioning. Of the ones that wouldn’t work most actually can run, but the publishers are banning people who play under Linux. The most notable from that list would be Destiny 2 and GTA 5. So yes greater than 90% of all games run fine in Linux these days either straight out of the box or with simple configuration tweaks.
I would say most anticheat works (although some games specifically choose to not allow Linux). It’s just kernel level anticheat that flat out doesn’t work (which is malware anyway)
Yup, that’s the kicker. Most games w/ anticheat could work on Linux, but devs refuse to do the minimal work to enable the Linux-compatibility (in many cases, it’s a checkbox and re-export the game). So the main thing that needs to happen is more Linux adoption. The more people that use Linux, the more pressure there will be on devs to check that box.
There’s even some options, like Heroic and Junk Store, that allow you to install some anti-cheat.
Years ago I switched to Linux on my PC and everything was fine. But there was a game I wanted to play that didn’t work on Linux, so I created a small Windows partition to dual boot. Later, that game became two, then three, and so on. I had to reformat some partitions to ntfs (iirc I was using reiserfs) to expand available storage for Windows to add more games. Then at one point I realized it’s been a while since I’ve booted into Linux and I don’t even know if it still works.
So yeah, use whatever fits your needs. I’ll always pick Linux PC or Mac for work, but I’ll stick with Windows for gaming.
For context, I’ve been on computers since the 8bit era and I’ve been programming for just as long. I prefer the power of a terminal over GUIs, my “IDE” of choice is vim. I use Git Bash in Windows for access to Linux-style commands. So yeah, I am technical and I prefer Linux for practical reasons. But when I want to play a game I want to just start it and play it, not work for days to maaaybe get it to mostly run fine except for some features.
Edit: one of the games I had to use Windows for was League. A competitive online game with anti-cheat features.
Edit2: note that this was many years ago and some other games I needed Windows for will now probably work on Linux effortlessly. At least one has native support for Linux now.
Wow, I haven’t heard that name in a while.
This used to work fine on Linux, but maybe that’s changed.
I play almost no competitive games, so it’s extremely rare for me to find something that doesn’t work on Linux. So YMMV, list the top games you play and check compatibility w/ Linux, hopefully you’ll be surprised at how far Linux has come. If not, it’s up to you to decide whether it’s worth using Windows 11 to play those games.
I’ve been using Linux exclusively for something like 15 years, and the selection of games went from “a handful of Linux titles + a handful more through WINE” to “most games just work through Steam when I push play.” That said, it’s not 100%, but I’m stubborn enough that I’d prefer to avoid a game rather than boot into Windows, and my Windows partition hasn’t been booted into for years (and the last time was to test some Windows-specific app for a friend).
That’s been pretty much a similar experience I used to have. Especially online games often suffer from poor Linux support because anti-cheat systems aren’t working, or not up-to-date, or something else entirely. It just felt like there was always something. I just want to boot up my PC and get going. Not boot it up and having to spend half the evening trying to figure out why a random driver/game/anti-cheat update destroyed everything that was working fine.
I’d be fine trying it again, but I know that a few games I play are still struggling with Linux issues, judging by the regular posts popping up on the related social media platforms.
I was similar, used Linux for work/programming but Windows for gaming. I refuse to update to Win 11 though, and with 10 going EOL I was faced with a problem. I’ve been using Steam Deck for about a year now with no problems so I figured I’d try going 100% Linux again. Ran my Library through protondb and nearly every single game was supported. I made the cutover about a month ago (just in time as well as literally a week before I made the switch copilot got stealth installed on my system).
So far I haven’t run into a single game that has failed or that I’ve even needed to change the options to get running. Now I don’t play LoL so I can’t speak to that specific game, and I have kept my Win 10 install if I do run into something that I can’t get running that I absolutely can’t live without, but so far I haven’t needed to boot into Windows since I made the switch. I think you might be surprised how few games won’t function in Linux these days.
well it’s gonna use you soon.
Okay, well, I hope it takes me out for dinner first.
🎵🎶…Sweet dreams are made of this… 🎶🎵
I recently switched (again… again again) I am on Linux (Nobara) for good now. All the games I play either work natively, through proton, or Lutris. The worst I have to do is use a different proton version or add in a launch option.
And therein lies the problem that keeps most people from switching to Linux. It’s a super simple thing to do, but Linux users fall into the same fallacy that experts in any field do: just how little the average person knows about the subject. The fact that something doesn’t just work when you try to open it would leave many people stumped. Especially with tech literacy rates declining thanks to kids growing up using mostly cell phones as their daily driver rather than an actual computer and the plug and play nature of Windows and Macs. Asking your average gamer to add command line arguments to a launcher would probably be like telling them they just have to hot wire their car if it doesn’t start when you turn the key.
To be fair, the number of times I’ve had to tinker has drastically reduced since the Steam Deck came out. I used to check protondb.com before installing a game, and now I don’t bother. Games tend to “just work,” and it’s getting better all the time.
I’ve been Linux-only since before Steam came to Linux, so I’ve seen the entire evolution from “try your luck w/ WINE” to “click play and it just works.”
Now is a great time to jump into Linux gaming, and if you stick to the Steam Deck Verified titles, you’ll probably never need to tinker. If you venture out to “Steam Deck Playable,” you’ll probably never need to tinker. Honestly, even a lot of the unsupported titles work just fine w/ no tinkering.
What games are you playing though?
So I’m still using Windows on my desktop, but from my experience with Proton on Steam Deck, Proton works pretty flawlessly essentially translating the windows exe. I’m assuming it’s the same for a Linux desktop setup but I’ll let others who actually have experience here comment further. The only thing that you may have issues with are competitive online games, but those aren’t really my jam but understandable if they are for you.
That’s the thing. I play a lot of online games, not specifically competitive games, but they frequently do use stuff like EAC. And the amount of times I’ve seen EAC issues paired with Linux posts pop up on various social platforms is ridiculous. It seems like a recurring thing that requires constant maintenance. Not to mention I use Windows for more than just games. Stuff like Adobe doesn’t even work on Linux and probably won’t be anytime soon either (and no I am not going to use alternative programs).
The effort and time it takes to get stuff working on Linux usually isn’t worth it, and then there’s hoping that everything stays working whenever something gets updated.
It’s quite ridiculous how a lot of people on this platform take it as a personal insult though. The article title is complete clickbait anyway.
Yeah, if you’re largely playing online games w/ anti-cheat, you’re going to have a rough time on Linux. But if you’re largely playing single-player games w/o anti-cheat, you’ll probably never need to tinker.
YMMV absolutely applies here. I personally play almost no online games (I just don’t have the time), so pretty much everything I play just works OOTB. I’ve finished well over a hundred games on Linux, and very few needed any form of tinkering, and I haven’t needed to adjust a launch parameter for the last couple years (last time I did was for a really old game, newer games generally just work).
No one is taking anything here as a personal insult outside of your own mind. More likely than not they simply think your effort doesn’t count for much as gaming on Linux is stellar out of the box.
I agree with you on that last bit. Pretty fucking annoying to see people act like Linux is perfectly fine for games which give new people some hope only to be frustrated and quit when they realize it’s not as fine as people make it out to be
They don’t realize that its hurting the chances of people actually adopting linux when they say misleading shit
For now linux is worth dual booting. Use linux for everything else and windows for gaming
All you have to do is check this website to check support quality for your games https://www.protondb.com/, and then decide if you want to quit. I think you don’t realize how low effort it is now, not more effort that escaping from Microsoft’s waves of enshitification.
Check your favorite games on this website that tells how well it runs on Steams on Linux, you may have surprises. https://www.protondb.com/
Honestly, you probably don’t even need to check them. If they’re Steam Deck Verified, they’ll probably just work. If they’re Steam Deck Playable, they’ll probably just work (most common issues are controls or small text, neither is an issue on desktop/laptop).
You honestly only need to check protondb if you have an issue, or maybe if you’re buying a game that’s “Unsupported” or something. 9/10 times, just clicking Play will work fine if it’s a single player game.