Steam Client Now Enables Proton by Default for Games without Native Linux Builds
Steam Client Now Enables Proton by Default for Games without Native Linux Builds
Valve released a new stable Steam Client update on June 30th, 2025, to further improve gaming on Linux for games without native Linux builds.
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I wish they* would add the ProtonDB rating to the store pages now when you're browsing from the Linux client (or as an account setting). The SteamOS compatibility rating just doesn't tell the whole story.
On the steam deck I have a plugin that shows it when I open the main page for a game.
Maybe it isn't on the storefront though, I can't remember.
Yeah, I've got the same plugin, but I don't think it shows on the store, just in the library.
I know its not the same and would be better to have it officially implemented by Steam, but meanwhile theres an extension you can use for seeing on the web browser (Chrome/Firefox)
That's cool as well, but that doesn't fix the store in gamemode, which is via the in-built browser in Steam. I just don't browse the store via anything other than the app itself, or the mobile app.
Have you run into many games that don't work on Proton? I've yet to encounter a single one myself, though I'm sure they exist.
Just chiming in as someone who's relatively new to Linux gaming for anyone curious or on the fence. In the 4 months or so of being on Arch Linux, I have encountered zero games that don't run despite playing a large variety of games.
I'm not saying they don't exist, and I'm not saying there aren't hiccups or bugs out there, but boy is it a lot closer to "completely seamless" than I think most people imagine.
Yeah definitely agree with this statement, with the one caveat being competitive multiplayer as anti-cheat is still such a mess. I think if Linux grows to at least 5% of gamers, we'll start to see developers take it more seriously. As it stands, a lot of those games have the developers specifically breaking anti-cheat on Linux.
I can see that, but I will point out that even on that front I haven't run into any issues. But here's a quick run down of what I've played and/or proton said is good vs not.
Works: The Finals, Dota, CSGO, deadlock, Arc Raiders, marvel rivals, overwatch 2 (I don't play this), rocket League (I haven't tried on Linux but proton says it's good), dune (haven't played), world of tanks (haven't tried but proton says it's good),
Doesn't work: Valorant, fortnite, rainbow six siege, warzone, rust (?), pubg, Apex legends, delta force.
Without running the numbers but looking at the stats page of steam, it's probably safe to say more than 75% or more of all current players would be unaffected by moving to Linux in terms of compatibility. That's a little unfair because CSGO does like 10 of these games in player count every day.
The non-steam games probably skew this percentage lower but still, it's not like the multiplayer or competitive multiplayer scene is dry and vacant on Linux.
I'm almost certain Fortnite doesn't work, Epic are really anti-Linux for some reason.
Ya sorry, I listed two groups without explaining what the groups meant.
Yeah, given there's the occasional windows game that won't work on a random Windows pc, it feels like we've already reached parity.
@AwesomeLowlander @princessnorah
Secret World Legends
Catherine ClassicJust 2 examples which with default Proton have at least "issues"
Yes, there are lots that require fucking around but usually there's a way you can get them to work with a lot of messing around. Even then, sometimes the performance can be trash.
But ya for most popular games it's hard to find ones that don't work. Unless they're using shitty anti cheat software.
Huh weird, that really doesn't match up with my experience in the past couple years. Everything I've tried has Just Worked™ I guess the games I play are usually not very graphic-intensive, that might account for it.
I've played a few that required some tinkering, like changing Proton's version.
Star Trucker has some stuttering that GE-Proton9-27 solves for me. Pacific Drive also had some crashing issues, played through that on GE-Proton9-25. It doesn't come up heaps, but I'm glad for GE-Proton when it does.