this post was submitted on 03 May 2025
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So honestly, which percentage of your game collection runs on Linux? Because I've looked into doing this just a few months ago, and unless the industry had some kind of mass exodus, less than 10% of my games run on Linux, and that's a generous estimate.
Not defending Windows or anything, this is just my experience.
At this point it's pretty much only the competitive games with kernel level anti-cheat that don't work on Linux because of their kernel level anti-cheat.
But then again, if 90% of the games you play are competitive games that require kernel level anti-cheat, you should probably consider expanding your gaming experience lol
I know you're getting a ton of replies already, but I switched to Arch Linux two months back or so and I just want to say nearly every game I've tried works great out of the box, a handful of games required me to go to my steam settings a flip a switch or copy and paste something from protondb, and no games have failed to work.
Gaming on Linux is so good that you end up flipping one switch in steam and get nearly perfect performance (with most games running identically or better than they did on Windows for me). It's been such a surprise, I just played the Arc Raiders technical Alpha and I thought for sure Linux would fail me then. And it did. For the first day, then on the second day they patched proton and the game and I played all week and weekend with zero issues. It was fantastic!
I would highly encourage any gamer who's thinking about switching to Linux but worried their games won't work to not worry as much. Check protondb for your favorites, but you can safely assume most game work out of the box.
Thanks, I appreciate your insights! I wonder how many people like me are simply looking at publisher notes and under the impression Linux isn't sorted. I'm genuinely impressed by the overwhelming feedback that it's simply good, and I'm excited to try it.
Ya, happy to spread the word! I was hesitant for a long while for the same reason but then Steam Deck happened and I looked into it more and BAM here we are. It's one of the more hopeful changes in this tech landscape - the growth of open source and/or free software that's often equivalent to the paid software.
idk where you looked, protondb.com is a good database for this stuff, from your later reply insurgency sandstorm and hund showdown are both "gold" rated, they should be okay
but the thing is ... you could just try for yourself, for free
I had just looked at the publisher's system requirements on Steam, since my experience with Wine from over a decade ago was a dead end. I've learned a lot from this thread, though, and it seems things have improved dramatically.
Like maxo said, things are definitely waaaaaaaay better than 10 years ago.
I'd say roughly 80% of my windows only games run as good as on windows, and probably 25-30% of my full library (not just what runs in proton) runs better in Linux with proton/wine than they do in win11.
Mostly what doesn't work is stuff with kernel level anticheat.
It did. I recently downloaded steam on Ubuntu and you don't need to install any 3rd party stuff yourself. It's available as compatibility toggle in steam. Sometimes you need to configure different version of Proton for games to work and they are slower to start. But they run fast and I didn't experienced much bugs. It's amazing, now after end of win10 I can ditch windows completely, as this and photoshop was the only reason I still have win10 installed.
Honestly I have a ridiculous pile o' games like a lot of us do, and I've yet to find something (that's not VR) that I cannot play .
For reference I'm running OpenSUSE Tumbleweed with a 30 series Nvidia card. Wayland, two monitors, main is 144hz ultrawide 3440 x 1440, another is 1080p 60hz.
First off there's a few programs out there to get you "Glorious Eggroll" versions of Proton which add even more stuff Valve can't distribute in their versions.
This beautiful software right here looks about right: https://davidotek.github.io/protonup-qt/
Steam works fantastically. Heck, Proton works better than native Linux builds sometimes! Deck playability is an even bigger mark of quality.
Even EA's silly launcher works. I got Titanfall 2 and that Sims 2 Ultimate they gave away ages ago working like butter.
I also love actually owning my games, so I use Heroic Launcher for GoG titles.
Oh! I even have CD games or old .EXEs windows would refuse to even install anymore! Don't worry, Linux has got this. I use Bottles to have separate environments for those games to install to and run. Majority of the time it works great but this is where things can get iffy. But hey, Windows wouldn't run them at all!
Wanna know what made me switch? Vermintide 2 kept giving me BSODs in Windows 10 with some super vague error code that made me think "Oh crap, please don't tell me my GPU is dying."
Nope! Linux ran it with zero probs once I fixed some small quirk to make their dumb little launcher work.
Cherry on top? All my RGB stuff works with Open RGB or my recently retired Corsair keyboard works with "CKB Next".
The community has made incredible strides. My Win10 partition only exists because it has Windows Mixed Reality, which they're abandoning. But not to fear, the Monado project is making HUGE improvements.
Give it a shot. I think you'll be surprised. :)
How are you getting on with VR? I have a Reverb G2 and if I can play Elite and DCS on Linux I'm basically sold at this point.
I really want a new headset but nothing beats the G2 right now, without giving money to Meta which I refuse to do.
Would "Steam Deck compatibility" be a good proxy, at least for Steam games?
Yep! 👍
I just made the switch this weekend. I have not had a single incompatibility yet. I have seen an oddity here and there in Helldivers 2, but nothing crazy.
Oddity 1: In normal windows play async issues sometimes happen where a player steps on a mine in the other person's client but not their own. They continue to play because their client doesn't mark them dead. To the other person, they appear as a person missing some number of body parts (sometimes just a floating torso). We call this torso mode.
Since switching to linux I have not seen my friend go torso mode a single time. He still sees me go torso mode.
Oddity 2: The artillery rounds are color coded for what each of them does. Since switching to linux they only appear silver for whatever reason. It's a nonissue, I just read them when I walk next to them. If anyone asks my character is colorblind.
One additional note:
If you install steam with a flatpak, you're going to have to tangle with the permissions related to a flatpak. Once you add directory permissions for an additional directory via flatseal (for example, if you want a library on each of your harddrives), you won't have to touch it again and it's great.
Maybe these issues are significant to you, maybe they aren't. Ultimately, god I love my system starting up in just a few seconds. And having true control over it.
Sorry but how did you only have 10% running on linux a few months back? I run every game except apex legends, warzone and fornite... This is ridiculous misinformation of you
Complaining how it is misinformation and listing multiple examples of how it is not is a new one to me.
They only need a games list of 30 games and the games you mentioned to have 10% not working on Linux statistic.
Not everyone has 600+ games.
Learn to read next time, maybe u will understand something in life, jezus, literally said i run all games except these ones, like what is that logic u use?
I've based my information on what Steam says: https://store.steampowered.com/linux
I honestly don't know what to say about the misinformation accusation. Blame the publishers, I guess?
I've since learned from this thread that it doesn't accurately reflect how well games run using Proton.
Not gonna blame steam or publishers, rather gonna blame the guy that talks out of his ass without googling it for 5sec
Why are you being so hostile? How have I been talking out of my ass? I feel I've provided a wealth of context here about my experiences over the years and how I came to this conclusion.
In fact, I think my experience is representative of many people's perception of Linux support for games.
You said you tried it a couple months ago and only 10% was playable, which is a massive lie, since proton has been working for a couple years now. Maybe you need me to google it for you.
https://letmegooglethat.com/?q=how+much+games+on+steam+work+on+linux
And there you said it at the end, presumptions, perceptions... Nothing based on facts.
Many years ago, back on my dual boot Toshiba laptop running Ubuntu 10 LTS, I became frustrated with how Windows was running and spent a good amount of time trying to get Steam and several games running on the Linux partition. I eventually managed to get Steam to run using Wine, and even got some games to launch, but they were unplayable. Although I can't be sure exactly which games I tried, I enjoyed Counterstrike, Unreal Tournament and Left 4 Dead at the time and suspect it must have included those.
Having been unsuccessful at getting anything to work (including some unrelated desktop software for work)—and I spent a considerable amount of time trying—I was left with the impression that this was a hopeless endeavor.
Fast forward to a few months ago: I heard about the Steam Deck and read that it was running a version of Linux. Out of curiosity, I wanted to see which games in my library are compatible. Steam helpfully shows a compatibility symbol on the product page, but unfortunately doesn't provide an overview from your own library. So I ended up having to do spot checks, and among my favorites it was less than 1 in 10 that were listed as Steam Deck / Linux compatible.
Now I'm sure there are all sorts of great results for searching the web for games that run on Linux. However, like many people, there are specific games from my library that I prefer to play.
Based on my past experiences with tinkering with Linux to get incompatible games to run, combined with publisher's own information provided regarding system compatibility, I have been left with the perception that not many games run on Linux. This was the motivation for my original comment that sparked this conversation.
None of what I've told you here is a "massive lie" and I'm genuinely confused about why you're so upset. Instead of having a civil discussion and teaching me about Proton, like many others in this thread have, you've attacked me and made wild accusations. Perhaps you might reflect on our interaction and reconsider how you choose to speak with other people.
You can turn on steamplay in linux and you can play 95% of your library, should've googled it instead of figuring it out yourself. Steam made proton layers so you can play whatever the fuck you want. No tinkering, 95% of my library works just fine on linux, i only use windows for apex and cod, which are riddled with cheaters anyway...
It's people like you who constantly talk out of their asses on forums that keep linux at bay, because someone will see that comment and say fuck it linux is gonna be too hard, when it isn't.
Discussion ends here, ain't gonna answer to you anymore
That's a helpful insight about enabling a special mode in Steam, thank you for sharing.
For the record, I take offense to your accusations of me "talking out of my ass" and "spreading misinformation" because I didn't know about this mode and what Proton is or how to use it. I'd have thought you would be excited to share this knowledge and spread the word about how users can rest assured they don't need Windows in this day and age. Instead you've chosen to reinforce the stereotype that Linux users are antisocial know-it-alls who pick stupid fights through anonymous comment threads.
Honestly proton running the windows version under linux is typically better polished, better performing, and more compatible than the "official" native linux version that most publishers put out, except in very rare circumstances where the developer actually understands and uses Linux and makes it a primary development focus. It's counterintuitive, but proton actually is that good (also most official linux releases are pretty lazy, like "console ports" if not worse).
Multiplayer games and ones that require Uplay or Origin (can't remember their new names) have issues, but most single player stuff will run fine. You'll typically have to run them via Wine or Proton, but Steam will handle that for you.
I've never tried Proton, but I've gone down a rabbit hole of trying to use Wine for running games a few years back. I'll look into Proton, thanks for the suggestion.
If you bought the game through Steam, using Proton is often as simple as installing it and hitting play. If you're curious about specific games, search them on ProtonDB
Yeah Proton is definitely the way to go over using Wine directly. Valve has put a ton of work into making it seamless. I have a large steam library and have found literally only one game (Destiny 2) that doesn't work. And that's just because Bungie has gone out of their way to make sure it won't run on Linux for "anti cheating" reasons.
I'm on Garuda, every game I have tried has worked great, sometimes I just have to choose a different proton version with an easy pull down menu. The only game I have given up is Destiny 2, because they say they will ban anyone on Linux because of their anti cheat.
What kind of games do you play? Unless a game has anticheat, it is pretty much guaranteed to run on Linux.
“Unless your game is one of the most popular games that people play, it will run on Linux”
Unless your game has an anticheat, forbids linux to be played with the anticheat due to cheaters on linux and still end up with an online experience where the cheaters blatantly wallhack and never get caught unless they kill a famous streamer in the game.
Who even wants to play apex legends or cod these days? Riddled with cheaters
“Who even wants to play the most popular games with the most amount of players these days?”
Everyone, which is my point. Those games are the most popular, most played games on every platform they’re on - and they’re not on Linux (though I believe apex is now at least).
Among my favorites with anti cheat are Insurgency: Sandstorm and Hunt: Showdown. I will reluctantly play Fortnite if friends insist!
i have just recently found out that from ps4 and xbox one up you can play fortnite and a bunch of other f2p titles, without subscription and with mouse and keyboard, with crossplay to every other platform
Should be ok:
https://www.protondb.com/app/581320
Fortnite does not work on Linux.
Most games that don't have kernel level anti-cheat tend to work.
Have you tried to play the games or did you look them up on a site? I've found that unless you are looking at a popular new game, a lot of the games listed are saying that they don't play, but we're last checked in 2023, and they do work now but no body has updated the new results.
I looked up my favorites, based on my experience in the past with unsupported games. Long ago, I tried using Wine, way back before Steam even had a native Linux client. I managed to get Steam to run through Wine but never succeeded in getting any game to run beyond a loading screen. That was ages ago, though.
Things have changed since then. Steam not only has a Linux client, but also has Proton which loads most Windows apps (it's marketed for games, but in reality it will work on Windows apps).
Its a fairly safe bet that your offline games won't have much trouble, from my experience.
I'm kinda curious to see your games list
As much as you guys like to worship Linux, that shit isn’t mainstream compatible
That "shit" is steadily getting better, while windows steadily decays. That "shit" won't remain niche forever.
I couldn't find a way to get a breakdown of this, but browsing Stream's Linux compatible list showed just a handful of games I own (Portal 2, Dying Light, Terraria), and spot checking my ±20 favorites resulted in just one compatible title (Cities: Skylines). So I ballparked it at <10%.
I've since learned from this thread that this information doesn't accurately reflect Linux support, though.
The list you linked is for games with native ports to Linux, not the ones you can run through proton. But dozens of others already pointed you to it, check it out sometime.
Yes, I'm aware of that now, I was just providing background regarding how I came to the 10% in my original comment.