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> if you don't sell your games on Steam or in a way I can run them on Linux I am not buying or playing them. So much this. People like to moan about "oh game X

• nightski 9mo ago
  I run both operating systems. But I have to say it either runs the game you want to play or it doesn't. This is especially true if you play games with friends.
  • neogodless 9mo ago
    > But I have to say it either runs the game you want to play or it doesn't Can you elaborate on this? For example, it was convoluted getting StarCraft 2 to run. Then it did eventually work, though it felt ever so slightly laggy. Anno 1800 ran though it occasionally slowed way down, occasionally crashed, and multiplayer never worked. Hogwart's Legacy ran but crashed, and ran massively slower / lower quality settings than on the same hardware but in Windows. All of those were not binary "runs / doesn't".
    • nightski 9mo ago
      That's not what I am saying, sorry if it was confusing. The parent was implying that if it doesn't run a game just pick a different game. But I was pointing out that isn't always an option, and some times you just want to play a specific game.
      • ozim 9mo ago
        I do understand the premise but … people want to play the games they want to play. For example I am a good customer for streaming services because I don’t care about specific titles - I will watch a series or a movie because it is available. I will most likely not go through a hassle to watch some specific show if it is not on streaming I already have. Gaming doesn’t really work like that for me. I usually want to play specific titles - not just some game. But I fully understand someone has the same approach to games as I have for movies/series.
      • neogodless 9mo ago
        Gotcha - yeah I'm on the same page. I used Linux Mint for 2 full months, 99% of my personal computing. Really like it. BUT... not all games my gaming group plays work on it, and social gaming is very important to me. That doesn't mean I'm sour on Linux PC gaming. I think it's great, and will work for a lot of people, and it's so close for me. And I might switch, since my gaming tastes are shifting.
        • nightski 9mo ago
          I agree, I love the Steam Deck and Linux a lot including gaming. I'll also be a day one purchaser of the steam box if I am able.
    • cevn 9mo ago
      It's like this. You eventually got Starcraft2 to work. That means Linux can run Starcraft2, it's in the "Runs" category. Games like League of Legends, which have kernel level anti cheat, are in the "Won't Run" category.
      • wafflemaker 9mo ago
        But you don't want to sacrifice comfort or other things. The game should work just right on Linux. I have an Nvidia card and use mostly Ubuntu (mate), also for gaming. It's even a problem now, because I would benefit from a hard divide between the gaming and working\studying system (I have a gaming user in backlog). On Linux it's mostly KSP, Factorio, but sometimes DeepRockGalactic, Valheim, Euro Truck Sim or Warhammer: Total War1\2\3. These games work flawlessly or with <10%fps hit. There are games that kind of work - Ancestors: Humankind Odyssey, Cyberpunk, Hunt: Showdown. But you lose comfort and I'd rather just play them on Windows, than suffer decreased functionality on Linux. I know that some of it (definitely Cyberpunk) is only because of NVIDIA. When buying games I usually don't buy Windows only games unless there is a very good reason. And I quit League of Legends and WRC rally because of anti cheat scam. I feel scammed after putting lot of money in a game and suddenly losing the ability to play it.
      • oreally 9mo ago
        This shifting of goalposts just to cater to linux just explains it all. Comeon. If a customer bought a game that says it runs on linux, they should be able to play it on linux well, not just launch it and quit within 5 mins. I get you have the ideology up in your head, but don't lie and embellish linux to this degree. The attitude just turns people off.
        • ndriscoll 9mo ago
          "Linux" is really a family of operating systems, so people need to be more specific. It might run perfectly out of the box on consumer/gamer focused operating systems like Bazzite or SteamOS while perhaps requiring more work on something like Red Hat or NixOS. Those different operating systems all have wildly different approaches to how the OS actually works despite generally being able to run a largely overlapping set of programs. It's like saying something works on "laptop" without specifying whether it's a Thinkpad or a Chromebook or a Macbook.
    • Macha 9mo ago
      Not saying you didn’t experience this, but I’ve definitely run StarCraft 2 in the past, and I play Anno 1800 regularly fine (thanks to the mods I’ve been playing it’s even got 50% more sessions than the base game)
      • neogodless 9mo ago
        Did multiplayer LAN work in Anno 1800 for you out of the box, or did you make adjustments? I couldn't figure out how to get it to work. StarCraft 2 worked, oddly enough, run from Steam as an external program. (Lots of search results tried to get me to use Lutris/bottles, but I couldn't get it to work consistently under Lutris.)
        • Macha 9mo ago
          I’ve done multiplayer internet play rather than LAN play, but that worked just fine without any changes from my part.
          • neogodless 9mo ago
            Ah yes that's what I meant. But yes unfortunately I could not figure out how to get multiplayer to connect. No idea why or how to troubleshoot and fix.
        • tapoxi 9mo ago
          In Lutris it'll try to run on Wine 8 by default, I had to set it to use the latest Proton GE. Was also able to get WoW, Diablo 4, WC3 and SC1 running well this way, since they're all in a single Wine Battle.net install.
    • godelski 9mo ago
      Fwiw I've been playing Hogwarts Legacy lately, though single player. Only problem I ever face is sometimes in a cave if I'm facing a certain direction I'll get blinding light as if I have ray tracing enabled and it's badly implemented. Though considering it's a AAA game and other things I've seen, I don't think that's exactly a Linux problem. Much like Starfield...
    • jandrese 9mo ago
      I ran Starcraft 2 through Lutrus and it was a piece of cake. No lag that I could discern. There was a little mini launcher and everything. The multiplayer also worked just fine, although the matchmaking system seemed to think I was an expert level player for some reason and kept matching me with dudes who were way better at the game than I was.
      • neogodless 9mo ago
        To me, this is the one thorn in Linux (and the Linux online community) that gives me pause. For the people that it just works for, well it just works for. For anyone else, apparently they are the problem? Not Linux? Well sorry no. I did get StarCraft 2 working with Lutris... once. Then I couldn't get it to start again. Eventually I switched to running Battle.Net from Steam and for some reason that did work. But it wasn't a "just works" or "piece of cake." It was a puzzle.
        • jandrese 9mo ago
          Maybe the difference is that I am running Ubuntu? Personally I think it's a common mistake for new users to jump on some obscure distro because they read something online where someone says it's the best. Even if that's true there is value in being on a popular distro in that bugs tend to be discovered and fixed quicker and there's almost always someone who has had the same problem you did and often figured out the solution just a web search away. I think Canonical and the Gnome foundation have made some really bone headed decisions over the years, but I stick with Ubuntu because the mass of users on it means I never get left high and dry. Or at least I'm not alone when I run into a problem.
          • neogodless 9mo ago
            Yeah, I was using Linux Mint at the time. Which is based on Ubuntu... So that's often where I'd look for help. Though any kind of documentation is like Linux, scattered and inconsistent. And I'm "OK" with that, as in I think the way that Linux came to be and is maintained, and provides user choice is also the reason why it's not "user-friendly" in every scenario. You can choose your distribution, and a lot of other things. And then look in a wide variety of places for bug reports, user questions, etc. You'll get a variety of answers from "it just works for me" to "change your distribution that you chose" to "even though some guides say to use Lutris, it's easier to just put it in Steam's external program launcher and choose Proton version x.yz." Even then, not everything will work because it wasn't written to work (for Linux). It was written to work for Windows, and then some smart people rolled up their sleeves and found ways to make a great many things work for Linux, and it's all amazing. And I find using Linux (mostly) quite pleasant. But when things don't work... there's going to be friction. It will take user effort to find a solution, or a solution might not be found. And for me personally, being someone who really likes to poke and customize and do things my way, Linux is a blessing and a curse, because I can guarantee I'll hit "weird edge cases" like trying to use the online multiplayer part of a game instead of just single player, or try to use my laptop's brightness controls, but they don't work, or I'll want fractional scaling to work, but it won't. And maybe there's a fix out there, or maybe not. Fixes like "it works for me" or "change your distribution", though, are non-fixes. They just frustrate people. If changing my distribution fixes an issue, how many new issues does it create for me?
    • Fabricio20 9mo ago
      I'd quote your own example from Anno -> "multiplayer never worked". Thats the "doesn't run" part. I always play Anno 1800 with friends. It has been my experience with linux gaming for a while - anything that involves multiplayer usually doesn't work, either because its just broken (less likely) or because its specifically stopped by the developer (anticheat, etc..). Reality is though, that most mainstream games (as in, biggest player counts and as such, the games most people are playing) do not support linux. If my Valorant or League of Legends or Counter Strike or Rust or ARC Raiders or Marvel Rivals don't allow me to play on linux then the state still is "linux can't really run games yet". How do you fix this? I dont know - most of these are the developers refusing support because of anticheat or just support overload, but it's insane to suggest that linux works for gaming when the most played games in the world straight up do not work. I'd love if linux was more viable though, can't wait to ditch the slowness from windows.
• techpression 9mo ago
  Most of the games I play would work fine, but it’s the damn anti cheat and multiplayer games that forces Windows down my throat, and I’m not happy about it. I only use my gaming rig for gaming so I have no other requirements, which kind of makes it even worse.
  • Zambyte 9mo ago
    I play multiplayer games with anti cheat all the time. The only ones that don't run are straight up malware.
    • techpression 9mo ago
      I’m not disagreeing, it’s just how certain very popular games operate nowadays. I would never play them on a computer I used for anything but gaming.
• PunchyHamster 9mo ago
  They don't mean all games thru all times, they mean "the latest $70 release" that still can have problem if it is multiplayer DRM/anticheat ridden one. I haven't booted windows in months but there is definitely some caveats for gamers
  • anon22981 9mo ago
    This. I’d move to Linux in a heartbeat if certain anticheats for certain competetive games had supports for it. (i.e. faceit anticheat)
    • tonyhart7 9mo ago
      its easier for me to just have 2 different system for work and entertainment honestly
      • shimman 9mo ago
        Even easier is to just give up on competitive games, at a certain point it becomes another job and you know... not fun? I think Starcraft 2 broke me from this habit, once you're studying various metas rather than having fun you need to take a step back and reevaluate.
        • Zambyte 9mo ago
          Studying metas can in fact be fun for people. It's mentally stimulating.
        • tonyhart7 9mo ago
          destroying kids in multiplayer games is fun, wdym by that
    • Thev00d00 9mo ago
      Play premier instead! I suck and have hugh trust so I never see any cheaters.
    • 9mo ago
• thewebguyd 9mo ago
  > oh game XYZ doesn't run so it's not reasonable for gaming People tend to generalize, but what they probably mean is "it's not reasonable for gaming for the games I play. I haven't fully switched over yet because the games the combo of the hardware I have + the games I play regularly, still give me issues vs. Windows. Getting them to run isn't the problem, but I haven't been able to solve miscellaneous crashes, lag, lower frame rates, etc. My next PC upgrade will probably be getting rid of my Nvidia 1660 super and getting something AMD for less headaches.
  • jp191919 9mo ago
    FWIW, I've been gaming with a 1660 on Nobara OS for the past 3 months w/o issue.
  • vladvasiliu 9mo ago
    > People tend to generalize, but what they probably mean is "it's not reasonable for gaming for the games I play. This. The corollary is also that people take the such quips way too literally. I, personally, don't play that many games, and those that I do play tend to run faster on Linux (with an AMD GPU, which I bought specifically to avoid nvidia headaches). But I still game on Windows. Why? Because I still have a Windows box, "because Linux is not reasonable for photo editing". I actually daily drive Linux, but I can't be assed to move from Lightroom and photoshop, so I still keep a windows pc under my desk. I just play games on it because it's much beefier than my 5 yo ryzen U laptop, and since I don't interact with that box all that much, I didn't feel like partitioning my smallish drive for no tangible benefit. My laptop is more than enough for all my other needs.
  • amelius 9mo ago
    Ok, if you want to be stubborn about it then leave Windows on a partition and only start it when you want to play that one game. Problem solved. In many ways, moving to Linux is like starting to live on your own. Your mommy might be a better cook than you, but is that a good enough reason to keep living in your parents' basement?
    • dullcrisp 9mo ago
• pksebben 9mo ago
  The only pain point I've found is VR. I've bounced off trying to get it working multiple times with the best results getting about 10% functional (video working on one or two games, input broken on all). That said, I haven't tried getting the same kit working on windows so I can't say if it's any better.
  • jsheard 9mo ago
    VR is rough at the moment, but one would hope that Valve is prepping an overhaul for SteamVR on Linux since they're launching a standalone VR headset which runs Linux soon.
    • Thegn 9mo ago
      I suspect that this might not ship given the recent dramatic change in memory prices.
  • Akronymus 9mo ago
    or DRM for old games that check stuff like the cd being present
  • psyonity 9mo ago
    It was very broken for a long time. Since fairly recently you have WiVRn (specifically wivrn-dashboard on Arch) for Oculus (more supported though) and I would daresay it works better then SteamVR used to do for me on Windows
  • giancarlostoro 9mo ago
    I ran into the issue where I didn't know that you can tell Steam to always prefer NATIVE LINUX programs over everything over Proton. This was causing a ton of issues with VR, I havent gone back to try it yet though, havent found the time.
  • 0x1ch 9mo ago
    Hardware for flight sim games is also in a similar boat. It's hard to configure most of the newer hardware, but a lot of the old low quality joysticks work alright out of the box.
• ukuina 9mo ago
  Do the top sellers from the past year work on Linux? I've been meaning to set up Bazzite on an older desktop.
  • mitkebes 9mo ago
    Basically all games work, except some multiplayer games with kernel anticheat. You can look up the status of games here: https://www.protondb.com/ https://www.protondb.com/ And specifically the state of multiplayer games with anticheat here (which is a much less favorable % of working games): https://areweanticheatyet.com/ https://areweanticheatyet.com/ I personally wouldn't install any kernel anticheat on a computer that I intend to use for anything important, so I would personally refuse to install the incompatible games even if I was using windows.
    • observationist 9mo ago
      "Just trust us, bro! Our security is better than the banks, governments, and major services and we would never let anyone exploit or abuse the gaping hole we're deliberately installing in your security profile! It's just our perfectly secure rootkit that won't ever be used for anything bad!" It's so weird to me that people just allow this, or even defend it. Game companies should be legally obligated to scale human moderation and curation of multiplayer games, and if you're paying for service that gets moderated and curated, there should be some legal expectation of process - a requirement that the service provider lay out a specific "due process" framework, even if it ends up mediated, that gives a customer legal recourse. Instead, they try to automate everything, which has notoriously indiscriminate collateral damage with no recourse. If you pour significant chunk of your private time and money into a game, you should be entitled to not arbitrarily lose an account or gameplay progress because some poorly configured naive Bayes classifier decided you did something wrong, without corresponding evidence or recourse to undo bad bans. For some reason companies are entitled to infinitely expand their reach without concurrently expanding their responsibilities in providing service to individuals. Must be nice.
    • jsheard 9mo ago
      Take ProtonDB with a grain of salt, Apex Legends still has a Silver rating ("Runs with minor issues") despite being 100% unplayable on Linux for over a year now.
• zeta0134 9mo ago
  The giant bugbear in this conversation is always multiplayer. That's because almost all of the big players in that space currently favor rootkits in the form of overly invasive anti-cheat, which the Linux wrappers (mostly the wine project) refuse to support for security reasons. If you don't play PvP specifically, the rest of the library is significantly more open to you. Personally I have always favored single player experiences and indie games from smaller studios, and for the most part those run great.
  • godelski 9mo ago
    It's unfortunate but at the same time if enough people switch to Linux then they'll be forced to change their ways. So if you can go without those games or don't play MMOs that is rootkits then switch to force their hand. Besides, them installing a rootkit on your machine is not an acceptable practice anyways. It's a major security issue. Sometimes we need to make a stand. Everyone has a line, where's yours?
    • ectospheno 9mo ago
      I switched to console gaming years ago. I can still play any major release while having whatever OS I want on my computers.
      • Gracana 9mo ago
        I did this and was happily Windows-less for quite a few years. I ended up building a PC with a big GPU and so I switched back to PC gaming with a Windows installation alongside Linux, but I still think the console route is a great option.
        • int_19h 9mo ago
          At this point, I think quite a few people are basically treating their Windows desktop as a console.
          • 9mo ago
• shevy-java 9mo ago
  Well I used to game a lot when I was younger. Initially I hated that Linux was so niche in 2005 or so. Meanwhile now, I don't have time for games anyway. I still think gaming should be better on Linux, but I don't miss Windows anymore either (though I have it as secondary operating system on another computer; I just don't really care about it, it could die tomorrow and I would not miss it one iota).
• greener_grass 9mo ago
  Does a game "run on Linux" when it has 100% feature parity? 90%? 80%? What are you willing to cut? Some performance? A few graphical effects? Multiplayer? When you look at the details, Linux gaming is not as good as it might seem. But I'm still gaming on Linux!
  • seanw444 9mo ago
    What you sacrifice in feature parity, you gain in user freedom and principle. To me, that is a worthwhile tradeoff. Especially since it's really not that much different at this point. You're not sacrificing much in most cases now. It's really quite remarkable.
    • jama211 9mo ago
      Freedom to not play the games your friends are playing, without you.
  • Zambyte 9mo ago
    I can't remember the last time a game did anything other than run (this is with only trying games that have been documented to work). I think the worst I've had is audio not working in cut scenes in some game, but I don't remember what game it was.
    • greener_grass 9mo ago
      Age of Empires II is very popular but doesn't have multiplayer support on Linux.
• jama211 9mo ago
  There it is, the classic “just change what you enjoy then!!”. Linux will take off when the community stops trying to force new users to conform to the Linux way of life and instead respect that other people have other needs and wants that are valid, and not a moment before.
  • krs_ 9mo ago
    While I agree it's unreasonable, it's also kind of a chicken and an egg thing. These things won't change until Linux becomes big enough to ignore. I'm not sure what the solution is though, as I don't think it's realistic to make people give up what they enjoy to get there. That's not gonna happen. But Valve has at least made a dent with the Steamdeck and Proton in general, and maybe more with the upcoming Steam Machine. Devs actively target the Steamdeck nowadays for games where it makes sense, so it is taken into consideration at a whole new level compared to years past.
    • jama211 9mo ago
      Getting the community to respect that people have those needs would go a long way to stopping people from feeling alienated, even if the solutions aren’t there yet.
  • johnnyanmac 9mo ago
    Not much else to do. You either convert people, convert the companies to support Linux, or convert the government into cracking down on whatever makes it difficult for Linux to be supported. The latter is highly unlikely, and the 2nd only cares if people shift their habits. So there's only one channel left.
    • jama211 9mo ago
      I mean, the community could be less hostile to newcomers, and some of the bigger distorts could focus more on the user experience of inexperienced users. Those things can be done without any of those.
• cesarb 9mo ago
  > More games run on GNU / Linux than any gaming console. Not for long. The Steam Machine aka "GabeCube" is also a gaming console, and will run all these games.
  • jama211 9mo ago
    All*
• johnnyanmac 9mo ago
  Games are more and more consolidating towards services, so it really only takes one game for the lions share of gamers. You can bet GTA V is a big draw away from Linux and that GTA VI will eventually be the same when it hits PC. As for me, I'm still stuck for professional reasons. I do intend to develop natively on Linux when time comes to make my own game.
• some_random 9mo ago
  You and most of the other people in this thread clearly do not understand what's going on here. I and everyone else you're griping about do not give a shit about Slop Spoogers 7 from 1998 running great on Linux, we care about the games that we play with our friends being playable. https://www.protondb.com/explore?sort=playerCount https://www.protondb.com/explore?sort=playerCount This is what matters, on Windows every single one of these is Native. Switching to Linux will be painful at best until every single one is at least Gold if not Platinum or Native.
• mvdtnz 9mo ago
  Many of us play with friends and don't dictate every game in the rotation. My time with my friends is more important to me than operating system purity.
  • jama211 9mo ago
    Well said. People like to conveniently ignore the realities and real reasons people do things when trying to push an ideology.