The State of Linux Gaming

Linus Tech Tips is bullish on the Steam Deck and so am I. The Steam Deck is transforming the Linux gaming landscape and I couldn't be more excited.

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# What are your machines specs?
Office Rig:
* AMD Ryzen 7 1800x
* MSI Pro Series X370 SLI PLUS
* AMD RX VEGA 64
* GSkill Ripjaw V DDR4 8GB x4 (32 GB)
* Fractal Design Define R9 Case
* Manjaro GNOME

Living Room Gaming Rig:
* ASUS X99-E-10G WS
* Intel Core i7-6900K @ 3.2GHz
* NVidia Titan X (Pascal)
* DDR4 Corsair Vengeance RGB 8GB x8 (64GB)

Backup Rig
* System76 Thelio Minor
* AMD Ryzen 5 3400G
* DDR4 16GB RAM
* Zotac Nvidia GTX 970 4GB

Home Server:
* ASUS M5A78L-M/USB3
* AMD FX 6300 at 3.5 GHz
* Nvidia GTX 750 1GB
* DDR3 20 GB RAM

[armandventer]

Cannot wait till Linux can truly rise to rival Windows level of users.

[marufbepary]

The biggest roadblock to Linux gaming was anti-cheat software, now that the biggest anti-cheat software works on Wine it should be improving massively.
The Steam Deck could have a knock on effect, if the Linux user base increases to a sizeable amount, other vendors like Adobe could start to bring in their software to Linux. As this happens, you could have PC OEMs starting to preinstall Linux to their PCs as a cheaper alternative to Windows.

[jaxxolotl]

I'm excited for the Steam Deck to be the first computer I buy running Linux out of the box

[andrew]

I'm looking forward to the day where I can say "I used Linux before it was popular!" Because when that day comes I know we won.

[peterjansen]

As I pointed out, Valve has a long way to go to fix problems with gaming on Linux, games which used to work on Proton broke, possible because of wine. But it is brilliant of them to nudge the user to use Linux by starting this with a handheld. Think about this, by using a power-envelope of just 15W Windows is a no-go because Windows itself uses too much power. So the focus is shifted from "how well does Linux game compared to Windows without a power-constraint" to "how much power is left for gaming by the OS". That is brilliant.

[marvinafonso]

Imagine if Playstation didn't existed in 2013, Microsoft would have been free impose their DRM bullshit on console players unpunished. Now Valve and Linux are putting the same pressure on Microsoft on the PC space.

[kazukihiratani]

I would love to see GOG and Epic work with Valve to make Proton as awesome as possible! Galaxy on Linux would be amazing!

[techzone]

I love how Linus support open source ❤️

[themightyquinn]

I actually wonder how many desktop users will opt to install steamOS 3. It’s arch based, has official support with steam games (and potentially other vendors that choose to support it). As long as the repos are well maintained, and the AUR is easily available, it could be an awesome general purpose distro

[battleborn]

I've been bouncing between windows and linux for the last couple of years almost entirely because of gaming. If things keep going in this direction with the steam deck and proton I might finally be able to use linux exclusively and not deal with the issues that come with swapping between the two OS's

[LegionIscariot]

I wouldn't be surprised if GOG or EGS make a Linux launcher and integrate Proton.
They all should. EA, Rockstar, etc

[manoo]

Thanks when I watch this video i feel hopeful, and content because I have a need of shared reality and when you talked about SteamOS and Windows 11, it totally resonates with my values, with my reality of how i see windows. Thanks!! I'm so excited about getting my steam deck!

[HiPlayerProdigy]

3:51 Yeah Yuzu Early Access would like to have a word with you.
AMD Game Compatibility is growing everyday from Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Fire Emblem Three Houses and Pokemon Sword and Shield are fully playable on AMD Technology so slight correction there.

[Eduardo-igqm]

I subbed to your channel just for steam deck content, but you really got me interested in using Linux. I've only used windows all my life, but when steamOS 3.0 launches, I'm installing it on my gaming PC for sure.

Too bad the steam deck isn't available in my country, I do all of my gaming either on the switch or on PC with a steam controller, so that thing is a match made in heaven for me.

[nobu]

a bright future ahead for us linux gamers. <3

[andriypredmyrskyy]

I want to see what the emulation scene does with this device.

I imagine a setup where you have an emulation library at home, and the steam deck will save the emulated games you're playing to memory so you can play them on the go as well.

And hell, if nobody else is making it, the deck is on Linux, so I can just make it do that myself.

[MrMediator]

Hopefully Proton† can implement DX memory management before Deck release because some games on Ureal Engine 4 (Squad in my case) struggle with VRAM leakage which there's non natively
†DXVK

[gwgux]

I could very well see myself with a Steam Deck when it gets released. It really just depends on the chip shortage to see if they can keep up with demand at this point. All the games I play work on Linux with little to no effort so this is a no-brainer for me.

[retrochomp]

Been a windows user forever. But the breathe of fresh air that steam OS 3.0 will bring will sway me and many others the way of Linux Gaming. Who knows... after using my steamdeck i will also install it on my Laptop.

[arnone]

I'm patiently waiting for SteamOS 3.0 just so I can install it on an old i7 4790 paired with a GTX 770 and see what games I can decent fps with 😆