With EA back on Steam, you can play Titanfall 2 on Linux with Steam Play

Now that EA have decided to cosy up with Valve once again, their games have been pouring onto Steam and that means certain games like Titanfall 2 are easy to get going on Linux.

Thanks to the Steam Play Proton compatibility layer (more info), tons of big Windows-only titles like this are really easy to get running on pretty much any Linux distribution. Titanfall 2 is an underappreciated gem too. I’m a massive FPS nut, I simply love these tactical feeling shooters and Titanfall 2 especially because it’s ridiculously over the top. We also so very rarely get games like this officially on Linux so thanks to Proton we can play Titanfall 2 and many other EA games easily now.

Have a look at Titanfall 2 on Linux below in an unfiltered quick-video:

YouTube videos require cookies, you must accept their cookies to view. View cookie preferences.
Accept Cookies & Show   Direct Link

With Proton 5.0-9 released recently, Valve and CodeWeavers put in some dedicated fixes needed by Origin too so that it's click and play. Well, almost. Initially hitting play may give an error about linking accounts, just hit play again and it should work as expected. Origin being Origin.

Also, you might notice some micro-stutter happening like clockwork every 1-2 seconds or so (not everyone sees it). That is also Origin being a nuisance. Thankfully, there’s a super-simple one-liner fix for that. If you find the compatdata data folder and then the folder inside for Titanfall 2, you need to change the permissions on it as Origin likes to constantly try to write into it. Stop it doing so like this (example):

chmod -R -w ~/.local/share/Steam/steamapps/compatdata/1237970/pfx/drive_c/users/steamuser/Application\ Data/Origin

That will remove the ability for Origin to write into it as a quick fix, until a real solution comes along. You will need to enable it again (+w instead of -w) if Origin ever needs updates, and then do it again to stop the stuttering. Thanks to a comment from TK-Glitch on GitHub for the idea. It’s likely if you see micro-stutter in other Origin games with Proton on Linux, doing that for each might fix them too.

Once that’s done. Enjoy. A good time to pick it up too since Titanfall 2 has a big discount on Steam.

Ending note: while I am aware people on Linux have played it with Wine and Lutris before, directly in Steam makes things a whole lot simpler.