2025 has most likely been the perfect 12 months for Linux that I can keep in mind, no less than from the angle of normal PC customers. It is had tons of publicity as a viable different to Home windows, even, and maybe particularly for gaming. I switched to it myself earlier this 12 months, however I am again on Home windows and I do not assume I will be switching again to Linux correctly any time quickly.
The Linux hype this time was precipitated by Valve’s Linux-based working system, SteamOS, opening up to be used on different handhelds than simply the Steam Deck. That had been lengthy on the playing cards, however it lastly began seeming shut at hand early on this 12 months.
The current recognition of SteamOS specifically, although, was spurred by the Lenovo Legion Go S, which Valve and Lenovo had been collaborating on to make the primary third-party SteamOS handheld. However even earlier than the SteamOS model of the Legion Go S launched, some handheld avid gamers began manually downloading and putting in the Steam Deck’s restoration picture of SteamOS on their very own handhelds.
I tried this out myself with the preliminary Home windows model of the Legion Go S and was very impressed. Efficiency is healthier, as is sleep/resume performance, and naturally the general full display screen UI is way nicer. There are downsides, corresponding to lack of assist for some video games, however any sport I’ve needed to play on handheld has labored simply fantastic, so I am glad sticking with SteamOS for gaming on handheld.
Then the official SteamOS model of the Legion Go S really launched, and that is been probably the most well-liked selections for a handheld gaming PC ever since. In fact, that is not all right down to SteamOS, because the gadget itself is trendy, cozy, and fairly highly effective, however the Arch-based OS does play a component.
Different handheld customers have not been content material leaving Legion Go S and Steam Deck avid gamers have all of the enjoyable, both. Even our personal {hardware} commander-in-chief Dave has tried SteamOS on a bunch of gadgets—Ayaneo Kun, OneXPlayer OneXFly, OneXPlayer X1, OneXPlayer OneXFly F1 Professional.
Nonetheless, each time he tried it, it was a buggy expertise, if not utterly unworkable. Aside from the Framework 13 laptop computer, that’s, which he discovered runs the OS simply fantastic—higher on a laptop computer than a number of handhelds, go determine. Utilizing Bazzite, a third-party Fedora-based SteamOS-alike, can also be an choice, and that appears to be a much less buggy expertise than SteamOS for most individuals, however it’s nonetheless not good in all circumstances. The Steam Deck and Legion Go S working SteamOS nonetheless appear to be the one handhelds that may run a SteamOS or SteamOS-like expertise fairly flawlessly.
Regardless of this very restricted growth of the working system, Linux nonetheless ended up getting a variety of consideration as increasingly more individuals realised that it is a viable different to Home windows, even to be used circumstances corresponding to gaming. We had YouTube influencers speaking about it, sister publications, and even—quietly, very quietly—yours really.
My very own current foray into Linux was very short-lived, nevertheless. I’ve dipped into Linux many instances over the course of my life, however I’ve by no means caught with it, and this time I used to be punted again over to Home windows with undue drive. You’ll be able to learn the full story explaining why right here, however the long-story-short is it simply utterly broke—trackpad, Wi-Fi card, the lot—whereas I used to be working away at Gamescom, and I did not have the time or endurance to troubleshoot and repair it.
Except kernel-level anti-cheats cease getting used, there’ll probably all the time be a cause for some avid gamers to remain on Home windows
A frantic Home windows set up was my answer, and the expertise has traumatised me sufficient that I am reluctant to offer Linux one other go, no less than not on a machine that I depend upon for work. I might skilled troubles that made me contemplate abandoning Linux previous to this—Nobara Linux did not appear to gel with my laptop computer’s hybrid graphics and exterior monitor—however my full catastrophe at Gamescom solidified issues.
Nonetheless, that was simply my very own expertise, and the hype was nonetheless there for Linux because the 12 months went on. Whether or not that was from influencers and publications capitalising on the hype by producing much more hype, or whether or not it was actual enthusiasm, it does not matter: it was there.
That was lastly compounded by two issues: Home windows 10 coming to its end-of-life (EOL), and Valve’s announcement of the Steam Machine. Within the former case, the kind-of-but-not-really EOL date for the earlier Microsoft working system delivered to the forefront all of the disappointing issues about Home windows 11. And within the latter case, effectively, the hype speaks for itself: individuals need a SteamOS desktop, assuming the worth is correct.
It isn’t all about SteamOS, in fact. Linux normally has appeared mighty interesting; it is simply that SteamOS has proven that gaming is genuinely doable and may actually be higher than Home windows gaming generally.
The freight prepare that’s random AI options, with a goal market of questionable existence, has ploughed on by way of 2025’s Home windows 11 updates. All of the whereas giving us one million and one issues that, I do not find out about you however I definitely by no means requested for. Linux, alternatively, delivers the identical message it all the time has: your system, precisely as you need it, to do with as you’ll. And with Proton delivering gaming expertise, what’s to not love?
Thus, 2025 has most definitely been fairly a 12 months for Linux. However I am nonetheless not switching.
The looming scythe of unpredictable hurdles is one cause I am not switching over
The looming scythe of unpredictable hurdles is one cause I am not switching over. There’s another excuse, although: anti-cheat software program.
It is no secret that I am an enormous multiplayer gamer. The primary video games I performed have been Group Fortress 2, Counter-Strike Supply, and Name of Obligation 4. Then there was Starcraft 2, World of Warcraft, Quake Reside, Overwatch, and on it went as much as right this moment, the place my mainstays are nonetheless on-line video games.
Return a decade and Linux may not have had such an issue with on-line video games, particularly. Certain, normal sport compatibility was far more of a difficulty again then given there was no Proton, however anti-cheats most likely would not have posed such an issue. Nonetheless, over the previous couple of years, increasingly more video games have began utilizing kernel-level anti-cheats, and these are an entire no-go for Linux.
Kernel-level anti-cheats run on the deepest layer of your working system, that means they will stop cheats working at a deeper layer than most cheats function at, making them simpler. The issue with that is that it is giving the anti-cheat entry to a layer of your system that dangers opening it to some fairly unhealthy vulnerabilities if it isn’t performed correctly, and it simply does not sit proper with some individuals to offer software program such deep management over your system.
No matter that debate, although, we have been informed for an extended whereas that such anti-cheats are right here to remain. And it seems like that is true, no less than for the foreseeable future, as a result of increasingly more video games have began to make use of them, from Apex Legends, to Fortnite and Valorant.
Linux distros, nevertheless, do not assist kernel-level anti-cheats. Linux permits customers to fiddle round with just about something they need, together with the kernel, so there’d be little level in including anti-cheat to the Linux kernel as a result of, not like with the Home windows kernel, the consumer may be capable to patch in code that makes the anti-cheat ineffective anyway.
A correct kernel-level anti-cheat on Linux is not in precept unattainable, however there’s little incentive for Linux devs to make it work. Plus there are different issues, corresponding to that anti-cheat makers do not wish to make their code open-source, and the core Linux kernel is open-source.
It is unlikely that many sport devs will abandon kernel-level anti-cheat, both. We have seen, for example, Facepunch (of Rust fame) COO Alistair McFarlane say that “if a sport helps Proton or Linux, they are not severe about anti-cheat” as a result of “it is a vector for cheat builders.”
So, except kernel-level anti-cheats cease getting used, there’ll probably all the time be a cause for some avid gamers to remain on Home windows. I do not assume this downside is confined to individuals identical to me who primarily wish to play aggressive multiplayer video games, both. That is as a result of even individuals who solely play singleplayer video games may need the choice to department out in future. Battlefield 6, for example, has a kernel-level anti-cheat, and that sport’s been massively well-liked even with individuals who may not have usually thought-about taking part in such a aggressive multiplayer sport. It is most likely been well-liked with some who do not play many different multiplayer video games in any respect.
The record of incompatible video games—which you’ll find on AreWeAntiCheatYet.com—is not large, however it’s hardly restricted to a couple area of interest video games. There are some massive hitters there, and there is all the time the danger that massive future video games you may wish to play will make use of a kernel-level anti-cheat, too.
This downside, in some methods, is much like the bugginess downside I spoke about earlier. Each points are ones that may intrude together with your peace of thoughts, leaving you questioning whether or not all of the video games you may wish to play will simply work. There’s a lot much less peace of thoughts with Linux in that regard than with Home windows, and I do not see that altering any time quickly.
So, for nearly as good of a 12 months as 2025 has been for Linux, I do not assume it is going to lure an excellent many extra avid gamers in than earlier than. At the very least, not as a full platform change. I can see some avid gamers attempting out dual-booting, myself included, and I can definitely see some attempting out the upcoming Steam Machine, however not as a substitute for a Home windows desktop or laptop computer.
This might all enhance over time, in fact, and I hope it does as a result of the extent of consumer management you get with Linux may be very interesting. For that to occur, although, I feel there must be some different to kernel-level anti-cheats come to fruition, and the extent of out-of-the-box reliability of Linux distros, drivers, and software program, must proceed bettering. I simply do not assume we’re anyplace close to that tipping level, but.
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