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Valve Makes It Easier for Linux Steam Users to Run Windows Games on Their PCs

It introduced an improved version of Steam Play

Aug 21, 2018 23:30 GMT  ·  By
Steam Client
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Valve announced today a new version of its Steam Play feature, which lets Linux, Mac, and Windows users play their games anywhere on any platform, with better compatibility for Windows game titles on Linux systems.

Even if there are already more than 3,000 games on Steam that offer support for the Linux platform, Valve wants to let Linux Steam users access even more games, especially Windows games that never received Linux support and probably won't, though the company hopes it'll also encourage developers to port their titles to the Linux platform in the near future.

Therefore, Valve is introducing today a new and much-improved Steam Play functionality, which includes Proton, a modified distribution of the Wine software that lets Linux and Mac users install and run Windows games and apps on their computers, to allow the installation of Windows games on Linux directly from the Linux Steam client.

"Our goal for this work is to let Linux Steam users enjoy easy access to a larger back catalog. We think it will also allow future developers to easily leverage their work from other platforms to target Linux. This would give them the option of focusing on areas that would make a meaningful experience difference for all users instead, such as supporting Vulkan," said Valve engineer Pierre-Loup Griffais.

Linux Steam users will now be able to install Windows games with native OpenVR and Steamworks support while enjoying a better gaming experience, thanks to the Vulkan-based DirectX 11 and 12 implementations in the Wine-based Proton component, with improved full-screen and game controller support, as well as better performance when running multi-threaded games.

Windows games currently supported on Linux

As the new and improved Steam Play feature is currently available via the latest Steam Beta Client, Valve is currently testing the entire Windows games catalog to see which titles run well on the Linux platform via its Wine-based Proton emulator. At the moment of writing, there's support for only 27 titles, but Valve promises that a lot more will be available when Steam Play hits the stable channel.

Among the Windows games playable on Linux, we can mention DOOM, DOOM II: Hell on Earth, DOOM VFR, FINAL FANTASY VI, S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl, Fallout Shelter, QUAKE, Star Wars: Battlefront 2, Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War - Dark Crusade, Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War - Soulstorm, Mount & Blade, Mount & Blade: With Fire & Sword, PAYDAY: The Heist, and Tekken 7.

Also supported are The Last Remnant, Tropico 4, Ultimate Doom, Magic: The Gathering - Duels of the Planeswalkers 2012, Magic: The Gathering - Duels of the Planeswalkers 2013, Bejeweled 2 Deluxe, Geometry Dash, Beat Saber, Doki Doki Literature Club!, Into The Breach, NieR: Automata, FATE, and Google Earth VR. All these titles have been whitelisted by Valve.

However, users can also play non-whitelisted games using an override switch called "Enable Steam Play for all titles" in the Linux Steam client. Until more Windows titles become available via Steam Play to Linux gamers, Valve also gives them a new way to vote for their favorite games so that the company will make sure those are among the first to be made compatible for Steam Play.