While Apple laptops have never really been the first stop for PC gaming, Linux is slowly shaping up to be an excellent gaming platform, largely thanks to open-source development efforts as well as work from the likes of AMD and NVIDIA, who have both put significant work into their respective Linux drivers in recent years. This makes efforts like the Asahi Linux Project all the more intriguing. Asahi Linux is a project that aims to bring Linux to Apple Silicon Macs—a task that has proven rather difficult, thanks to the intricacies of developing a bespoke GPU driver for Apple's custom ARM GPUs. In a recent blog post, the graphics developer behind the Asahi Linux Project showed off a number of AAA games, albeit older titles, running on an Apple M1 processor on the latest Asahi Linux build.

To run the games on Apple Silicon, Asahi Linux uses a "game playing toolkit," which relies on a number of custom graphics drivers and emulators, including tools from Valve's Proton translation layer, which ironically was also the foundation for Apple's Game Porting Toolkit. Asahi uses FEX to emulate x86 on ARM, Wine as a translation layer for Windows apps, and DXVK and vkd3d-proton for DirectX-Vulkan translation. In the blog post, the Asahi developer claims that the alpha is capable of running games like Control, The Witcher 3, and Cyberpunk 2077 at playable frame rates. Unfortunately, 60 FPS is not yet attainable in the majority of new high-fidelity games, there are a number of indie titles that run quite well on Asahi Linux, including Hollow Knight, Ghostrunner, and Portal 2.

Gaming giant Valve appears to be venturing into uncharted territory. Recent findings on SteamDB have revealed that the company may be working on integrating ARM architecture and Android app support into its ecosystem. A mysterious application, codenamed "ValveTestApp3043620," has been spotted with an update that includes interesting changes. The update features new tags for several popular games, including Left 4 Dead 2, Garry's Mod, and Kerbal Space Program. These tags, such as "proton-arm64" and "proton-arm64e," indicate that Valve is testing a version of Proton specifically designed for ARM64-based systems. Proton, Valve's brainchild developed in partnership with CodeWeavers, is the magic behind running Windows games on Linux systems. By extending this technology to ARM64, Valve could be paving the way for PC gaming on portable Arm-based devices, potentially signaling a new hardware strategy.

The plot thickens with mentions of "proton_experimental" and "proton-arm64ec-vanguard" in the changelog, hinting at ongoing tests and experimental builds. Additionally, references to Waydroid, a tool enabling Android apps on Linux, suggest that Valve's ambitions may extend beyond gaming, possibly aiming to broaden software accessibility of its platform. This development has sparked speculation about the possibility of Steam games running on Android smartphones and tablets or even a possible Arm-powered version of the Steam Deck. However, a more likely scenario could be testing for Windows support on Arm-based chips. The timing of these experiments aligns with recent announcements of laptops featuring Qualcomm's ARM64-based Snapdragon X CPUs. These devices can run Windows-based games through Microsoft and Qualcomm's emulation layer, Prism. If Valve's Proton can provide superior performance or more stable emulation for Windows-based games on Arm devices, it could position itself as a strong competitor to Prism.

A couple of days ago, Valve has released the first stable version of Proton 9.0, a compatibility layer for Windows games to run on Linux-based operating systems. The newest stable version is built on Wine 9.0 and brings all the improvements and fixes seen in earlier beta releases.

According to the release notes, the new Proton 9.0-1 enables some games that were previously playable only with Proton Experimental, including Sonic Colors: Ultimate, Command & Conquer games, The Finals, Lord of the Rings: Gollum and others, enables NVIDIA NVAPI by default for most games, adds support for Steamworks SDK 1.59, and fixes a bunch of other issues in a lot of games. The new version also limits the number of cores seen by some games in order to make them actually playable on CPUs with high core count, including Far Cry 2 and Far Cry 4, The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings Enhanced Edition, a couple of Warhammer 40,000 games and others.

The Finals—a free-to-play online first-person shooter—has pulled in a large population of gamers across Windows PCs and current-gen gaming consoles since its surprise launch last month, but players on Linux Desktop + Intel Arc hardware were missing out on this experience...until very recently. Phoronix reports that Embark Studio's Unreal Engine 5-powered title has started to work in a Linux environment "thanks to Valve's Steam Play (Proton + VKD3D-Proton). With the latest Mesa driver activity, Intel Arc Graphics on Linux with their open-source driver can now handle this popular game." GamingOnLinux owner, Liam Dawe, created a post about this development, although he noticed a multitude of stability problems and glitches in-game, but was largely up and running with an AMD Radeon 6800 XT GPU on Mesa 23.3.3.

Phoronix's Michael Larabel noted some (Intel Arc-specific) feedback on GitLab: "when launching The Finals on Linux with Intel Arc Graphics using the default DirectX 12 renderer, it was reported that the game is stuck at a black screen for Intel Arc Graphics and then simply closes... Well, it's an easy fix and one that has come up before." He has witnessed similar problems with other games—notably Diablo IV and Cyberpunk 2077: "due to The Finals using Intel's XeSS upscaling tech but that not behaving well on Linux. The Windows game sees Intel Graphics being utilized and by default tries to leverage XeSS...Intel Arc Graphics on Linux can run The Finals when concealing the fact that it's Intel Graphics inside."

Valve has not kept the prospect of a Steam Deck successor very secret—their Proton-based handheld gaming system will eventually become a "multi-generational product." Gabe Newell (going back to early 2022) outlined some initial ambitions for the second iteration, with a teaser: "what are the capabilities that mobile gives us, above and beyond what you would get in a traditional desktop or laptop gaming environment?" One of the project's main architects, Pierre-Loup Griffais, has discussed the prospect of a "Steam Deck 2" with The Verge and CNBC—his team's progress hinges on striking an optimal balance between performance and power efficiency (on battery). The follow-up is not arriving any time soon, despite rival companies preparing alternative portable gaming experiences—Griffais said: "I don't anticipate such a leap to be possible in the next couple of years."

Steam Deck, in its current form, seems to be the main priority for the immediate future. Griffais was a keynote speaker at Tokyo Game Show 2023, so communicated with Verge via email: "It's important to us that the Deck offers a fixed performance target for developers, and that the message to customers is simple, where every Deck can play the same games. As such, changing the performance level is not something we are taking lightly, and we only want to do so when there is a significant enough increase to be had...but we're still closely monitoring innovations in architectures and fabrication processes to see where things are going." Griffais re-confirmed this stance in an interview with CNBC (at TGS 2023)—Valve wants more gamers to adopt the platform before a push into next-gen—with improved user interfaces, more development partners and an ironing out of supply chain issues: "We're looking at this performance target that we have as a stable target for a couple years."

Ampere Computing, known for its Altra (Max) and upcoming AmpereOne families of AArch64 server processors tailored for data centers, has released a guide for enthusiasts on running Steam for Linux on these ARM64 processors. This includes using Steam Play (Proton) to play Windows games on these Linux-powered servers. Over the summer, Ampere Computing introduced a GitHub repository detailing the process of running Steam for Linux on their AArch64 platforms, including Steam Play/Proton. While the guide is primarily designed for Ampere Altra/Altra Max and AmpereOne hardware, it can be adapted for other 64-bit Arm platforms. However, a powerful processor is essential to appreciate the gaming experience truly. Additionally, for the 3D OpenGL/Vulkan graphics to function optimally, an Ampere workstation system is more suitable than a headless server.

The guide recommends the Ampere Altra Developer platform paired with an NVIDIA RTX A6000 series graphics card, which supports AArch64 proprietary drivers. The guide uses Box86 and Box64 to run Steam x86 binaries and other x86/x86-64 games for emulation. While there are other options like FEX-Emu and Hangover to enhance the Linux binary experience on AArch64, Box86/Box64 is the preferred choice for gaming on Ampere workstations, as indicated by its mention in Ampere Computing's Once the AArch64 Linux graphics drivers are accelerated and Box86/Box64 emulation is set up, users can install Steam for Linux. By activating Proton within Steam, it becomes feasible to play Windows-exclusive x86/x86-64 games on Ampere AArch64 workstations or server processors. However, the guide doesn't provide insights into the performance of such a configuration.

The PC market is dominated by the Windows operating system. There are alternatives, but most commercial applications run Windows OS, and the usage for the average user makes sense. However, Linux users often dream of the "year of Linux on desktop," where Linux starts dominating the PC market and mass adoption starts. In reality, this isn't the case as most people use the default or install the Windows OS. Today, we learn that Linux broke the 3% market share number after 30 years of presence. Being the highest market share it ever recorded, the OSes based on the Linux kernel now represent 3.07% of the entire market.

The survey data conducted by StatCounter shows that Windows holds 68.23%, OS X for macOS holds 21.32, ChromeOS has a 4.13% share, while unknown OSes hold 3.24%. This includes BSD-based alternatives and others. It is worth noting that Linux adoption could be a part of Steam Deck, which runs on a SteamOS 3.0 distribution based on Arch Linux. It also includes a Proton compatibility layer, which helps Windows games run on Linux, so users have an easier time running their favorite applications.

Apple has struggled in the area of offering comprehensive gaming ecosystems - in the personal computer space - over the past few decades with only a handful of studios bothering to port their games over to macOS, but material presented at this week's Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) indicates that the technology giant is getting serious about its silicon becoming a legitimate platform for video games. A lot of the company's presentation focused on the controversial Vision Pro Headset, but some press outlets took notice of a quieter announcement during proceedings. Hideo Kojima (of Metal Gear Solid fame) made an appearance and announced: "I have been a die-hard Apple fan since I bought my first Mac back in 1994—and it has been a dream of mine to see my team's best work come to life on the Mac. Death Stranding Director's Cut on the Mac takes advantage of the latest Apple technologies to provide the best experience to our fans." Several other development outfits have also declared that their games are set for arrival on Mac systems this year. Apple was enthused about this new strategy and let everyone know that: "tens of millions of Macs can run demanding games with outstanding performance, exceptional battery life, and breathtaking visuals."

Susan Prescott, Apple's vice president of Worldwide Developer Relations stated: "A new era for gaming on Mac is here...Developers around the world can harness our powerful tools in Metal 3 to deliver incredibly responsive gameplay with high frame rates to more players than ever before." Their software engineering team has been working on a system that simplifies and accelerates the process of creating Windows-to-Mac game ports. A Proton-esque environment - comparable to Valve's software layer efforts with Steam Deck - is capable of translating and running the latest DirectX 12 Windows titles on macOS. Codeweavers revealed in a blog post that Apple has chosen to base the Game Porting Toolkit on their CrossOver source code.

Valve's Proton, which allows Windows games to run on Linux, has been now updated to version 8.0, bringing even more games to Linux OS and Valve's Steam Deck. The latest update is probably one of the biggest yet and much awaited re-base, bringing an extensive list of fixes, as well as a list of new games that are now playable.

Valve's own Pierre-Loup Griffais confirmed on Twitter that this is their biggest re-base to date, and that the experimental-8.0 will follow sometime this week. He also notes that the newest re-base requires a GPU with Vulkan 1.3 support. The list on new AAA games that are now playable includes some big titles like Dead Space (2023), Forspoken, Nioh 2 - The Complete Edition, Disney Dreamlight Valley, and others. It also updates Wine to 8.0, fixes issues with the 2K launcher, rendering issues in multiple games, fixes multi-touch support, adds NVIDIA NVAPI support to multiple games, and plenty of other fixes.

Elden Ring launched in late February to rave critic and consumer reviews. The game is an excellent showcase of From Software's gaming design ethos, but ultimately proves that the company's rendering engine still requires work after years of installments due to widely-reported stuttering issues - irrespective of hardware configuration. A fix for Elden Ring's stuttering issues has surfaced on late Monday - courtesy of Valve and its Proton wrapper, and only applicable to the Steam Deck. In a way, this turns Steam Deck into the smoothest device to play Elden Ring on.

The issue with Elden Ring's stuttering has been linked to the games' continuous shader loading. Apparently, Elden Ring allows users to enter its vast open-world without pre-compiling the required shaders (something that we've seen other games do through usually lengthy boot-up processes) for the specific hardware. This forces the game to constantly compile shaders as they're required (due to world loading, animation loading, among other triggers), which is responsible for the stuttering issues gamers on PC have been encountering.

Valve has recently launched a tool that allows you to check what games from your Steam library have been tested and confirmed to work with the Steam Deck. The Steam Deck runs the custom SteamOS Linux distribution with the Proton compatibility layer for Windows exclusive titles. The compatibility tool from Valve lists games that have been tested into three categories consisting of verified, playable, unsupported in addition to a list of currently untested titles. Valve classifies games listed as verified as not needing any configuration for use with the Steam Deck and those classed as playable may require modifications to get controls working correctly. You can check what games are supported from your Steam library by following this link.

Valve has recently been testing NVIDIA DLSS support for their Proton Windows compatibility layer for Linux with an experimental version available in 6.3-7 and now fully supported with 6.3-8. This latest addition to Proton will allow NVIDIA Linux gamers to take full advantage of Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS) in supported games. Proton has seen significant development attention recently with this release also bringing initial support for the BattlEye anti-cheat software enabling games such as PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds and DayZ to run correctly. Epic Games have also previously announced that they are working with Valve to add support for their Easy AntiCheat software. This latest release also includes support for 24 new titles and various miscellaneous bug fixes.

Valve has recently announced a new program aimed at verifying game compatibility on the Steam Deck with a simple four-category classification system. Valve is reviewing the entire Steam library to see how each title performs in four key areas on the Steam Deck including input, display, seamlessness, and system support. Games need to feature full controller support and automatically bring up the on-screen keyboard to fulfill the input requirement along with supporting the Steam Decks native resolution of 1280x800 or 1280x720. They will also need to work correctly with Proton including anti-cheat if no native Linux version is available along without displaying any warning messages.

Valve will mark games that fail some sections of these checks as playable meaning that the user may need to manually select a community-created controller configuration or use the touchscreen to navigate the launcher. Games that cannot run will be marked as unsupported while all other games will be classified as unknown meaning that Valve has yet to test the title on the Steam Deck. These new compatibility labels will be featured prominently throughout the Steam store on Steam Deck with detailed information about individual checks available. Valve will continuously update these ratings as developers launch updates for their games and they hope to have the feature live before deliveries of the Steam Deck begin.

When Valve claimed that their Linux-powered Steam Deck device would be able to run any game from the Steam library most of us assumed this was simply a statement on the power of the device. We assumed that the Linux OS wouldn't be compatible with certain games such as those using Easy Anti-Cheat (EAC) or BattlEye however Valve confirmed that they would work with the companies to add support. This has culminated in Epic Games recently introducing Linux & Mac support for their EAC software noting the Steam Deck in their announcement.

The addition of Linux support has been specifically designed to work with the Wine and Proton compatibility layers to ensure that all games using the software should run correctly. This will mean that titles such as Apex Legends, Dead by Daylight, War Thunder, 7 Days to Die, Fall Guys, Black Desert, Hunt: Showdown, Paladins, and Halo: The Master Chief Collection can now be easily updated to include Linux support. The rival BattlEye software isn't currently available for Linux but the CEO has confirmed that support will be added with the first game featuring it coming soon. These moves will drastically improve the Linux gaming landscape and will hopefully encourage more developers to natively support the platform.

When Valve made a debut of Proton for Steam on Linux, the company committed to enabling Linux gamers from across the globe to play all of the latest games available for the Windows platform, on their Linux distributions. Since the announcement, the market share of people who game on Linux has been rather stagnating for a while. When Proton was announced, the Linux gaming market share jumped to 2%, according to a Valve survey. However, later on, it dropped and remained at the stagnating 0.8~0.9% mark. Today, according to the latest data obtained from Steam Hardware Survey, we see that the Linux gaming market share has reached 1.0% in July, making for a +0.14% increase. What drove the spike in usage is unknown, however, it is interesting to see the new trend. You can check out the Steam Hardware Survey data here.

NVIDIA has announced that they are partnering with Valve to bring its Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS) graphics technology to Linux via Steam Proton. This will allow Linux gamers with an RTX GPU to take advantage of the AI tool to improve their framerates in games through Steam. Proton is an open-source tool from Valve which allows Windows games to be run on Linux, the tool is built into the Linux Steam Client Beta. This news comes after AMD announced their open-source DLSS competitor FidelityFX Super Resolution which supports AMD, and NVIDIA graphics cards.

NVIDIANVIDIA, Valve, and the Linux gaming community are collaborating to bring NVIDIA DLSS to Proton - Linux gamers will be able to use the dedicated AI cores on GeForce RTX GPUs to boost frame rates for their favorite Windows Games running on the Linux operating system. Support for Vulkan titles is coming this month with DirectX support coming in the Fall.

Project Proton is a tool developed by Valve Software which allows Windows games to run on Linux through Steam. The project was launched in 2018 as a forked version of WINE with some additional features such as DirectX over Vulkan. According to ProtonDB a fan page which reports game compatibility there are now over 6,500 games which work flawlessly without any modifications on Linux.

This is an amazing achievement for the Linux gaming community and outshines the work of any porting company, at the current rate over 100 games are gaining complete compatibility each month and the average quality of games has also increased. Out of the top 1000 Steam games 67% run perfectly after minor tweaks.