Across various previous articles we've looked at how many games are supported on Linux and how many Windows games work with Steam Play Proton, so let's take a look at the current top 100.
The top 100 Steam games is a list that fluctuates quite a lot, so this is taken using a snapshot of what was available thanks to SteamDB going by the 24 hour player peak count. Seems like a pretty good sample to use since it shouldn't be drastically different any time soon, except for big new releases after the article goes live of course. So this is just a snapshot of how things look in early October 2021 ahead of the Steam Deck release.
Over time the compatibility is expected to increase thanks to native ports, more Windows-only games working with Steam Play Proton and now Easy Anti-Cheat and BattlEye have expanded their support.
| Name | 24 Hr Peak | Linux Status |
| New World | 790,682 | Proton Broken (Anti-Cheat) |
| Counter-Strike: Global Offensive | 789,100 | Linux Native |
| Dota 2 | 587,627 | Linux Native |
| PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS | 341,912 | Proton Broken (Anti-Cheat) |
| Apex Legends | 220,593 | Proton Broken (Anti-Cheat) |
| NARAKA: BLADEPOINT | 131,161 | Proton Broken (Anti-Cheat) |
| Grand Theft Auto V | 103,932 | Works with Proton |
| Team Fortress 2 | 89,491 | Linux Native |
| Destiny 2 | 81,595 | Proton Broken (Anti-Cheat) |
| Rust | 69,107 | Proton Broken (Anti-Cheat) |
| Wallpaper Engine | 64,082 | Proton Broken |
| Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege | 64,048 | Proton Broken (Anti-Cheat) |
| Warframe | 59,171 | Works with Proton |
| Dead by Daylight | 56,988 | Proton Broken (Anti-Cheat) |
| Rocket League | 54,039 | Works with Proton |
| Battlefield V | 51,319 | Works with Proton |
| Football Manager 2021 | 50,672 | Works with Proton |
| ARK: Survival Evolved | 46,999 | Linux Native |
| FIFA 22 | 46,847 | Works with Proton |
| Cookie Clicker | 46,482 | Works with Proton |
| Valheim | 46,423 | Linux Native |
| MIR4 | 46,023 | Proton Broken |
| PAYDAY 2 | 38,942 | Linux Native |
| Sid Meier's Civilization VI | 37,433 | Linux Native |
| Terraria | 36,815 | Linux Native |
| Euro Truck Simulator 2 | 35,640 | Linux Native |
| FINAL FANTASY XIV Online | 35,113 | Works with Proton GE |
| DayZ | 34,126 | Proton Broken (Anti-Cheat) |
| War Thunder | 32,164 | Linux Native |
| World of Tanks Blitz | 31,939 | Works with Proton |
| Hearts of Iron IV | 31,686 | Linux Native |
| Unturned | 29,382 | Linux Native |
| Garry's Mod | 28,931 | Linux Native |
| Farming Simulator 19 | 28,141 | Works with Proton |
| Monster Hunter: World | 28,126 | Works with Proton |
| The Elder Scrolls Online | 25,690 | Works with Proton |
| Don't Starve Together | 25,412 | Linux Native |
| Total War: WARHAMMER II | 25,372 | Linux Native |
| Stardew Valley | 24,900 | Linux Native |
| Brawlhalla | 23,196 | Works with Proton |
| 雀魂麻将(MahjongSoul) | 23,028 | Works with Proton |
| Left 4 Dead 2 | 22,208 | Linux Native |
| The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition | 21,876 | Works with Proton GE |
| Phasmophobia | 21,558 | Works with Proton |
| Europa Universalis IV | 20,886 | Linux Native |
| The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt | 20,084 | Works with Proton |
| Sid Meier's Civilization V | 19,629 | Linux Native |
| Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition | 19,578 | Works with Proton |
| 7 Days to Die | 19,320 | Linux Native |
| RimWorld | 19,272 | Linux Native |
| Black Desert | 18,719 | Proton Broken (Anti-Cheat) |
| Red Dead Redemption 2 | 18,622 | Works with Proton |
| Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous | 18,336 | Works with Proton |
| Bloons TD 6 | 17,775 | Works with Proton |
| VRChat | 17,705 | Unstable with Proton |
| Bless Unleashed | 17,400 | Proton Broken (Anti-Cheat) |
| The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth | 17,363 | Linux Native |
| Fallout 4 | 17,208 | Works with Proton |
| SMITE | 17,107 | Proton Broken (Anti-Cheat) |
| Hunt: Showdown | 16,873 | Proton Broken (Anti-Cheat) |
| SCUM | 16,750 | Proton Broken |
| Factorio | 16,549 | Linux Native |
| Stellaris | 16,463 | Linux Native |
| Cities: Skylines | 16,238 | Linux Native |
| Arma 3 | 16,060 | Partially works with Proton |
| Conqueror's Blade | 15,251 | Proton Broken |
| Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord | 14,638 | Works with Proton |
| Battlefield 1 | 14,473 | Works with Proton |
| Counter-Strike | 14,338 | Linux Native |
| tModLoader | 14,225 | Linux Native |
| No Man's Sky | 13,686 | Works with Proton |
| Forza Horizon 4 | 13,465 | Works with Proton |
| EA SPORTS FIFA 21 | 13,399 | Unstable with Proton |
| Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Links | 13,358 | Works with Proton |
| eFootball PES 2021 SEASON UPDATE | 13,297 | Partially works with Proton |
| NBA 2K22 | 12,848 | Works with Proton |
| Crusader Kings III | 12,609 | Linux Native |
| Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl | 12,494 | Proton Broken |
| Sea of Thieves | 12,394 | Partially works with Proton |
| Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout | 12,266 | Proton Broken (Anti-Cheat) |
| Football Manager 2020 | 11,991 | Works with Proton |
| The Sims 4 | 11,627 | Works with Proton |
| Soundpad | 11,571 | Proton Broken |
| Path of Exile | 11,232 | Works with Proton |
| Geometry Dash | 11,031 | Works with Proton |
| Need for Speed Heat | 11,018 | Works with Proton |
| Satisfactory | 10,788 | Works with Proton |
| World of Warships | 10,775 | Works with Proton |
| DARK SOULS III | 10,733 | Works with Proton |
| Medieval Dynasty | 10,611 | Works with Proton GE |
| Dying Light | 10,453 | Linux Native |
| F1 2021 | 10,224 | Proton Broken |
| Paladins | 10,144 | Proton Broken (Anti-Cheat) |
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 9,952 | Works with Proton |
| Tales of Arise | 9,686 | Works with Proton |
| Eternal Return | 9,235 | Proton Broken |
| Divinity: Original Sin 2 | 9,131 | Works with Proton |
| BeamNG.drive | 9,123 | Works with Proton |
| Timberborn | 8,775 | Works with Proton |
| Among Us | 8,699 | Works with Proton |
Some notes:
- Proton GE refers to the community-built version of Proton. So while it requires adding it manually (which takes all of 5 minutes), it still works. This is sometimes needed for games where videos don't work with the official Proton. Valve is working on getting them all working out of the box with official Proton.
- We expect Rust to work at the launch of the Steam Deck or shortly after, given that Garry Newman of Facepunch already stated previously it was in progress to have their Easy Anti-Cheat supported in Proton.
- Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition works but online multiplayer can desync unless you do a small fix.
- Phasmophobia doesn't have in-game voice due to it needing Windows Cortana.
- The native port of ARK: Survival Evolved is pretty poor, and online with the Windows version in Proton is broken due to the BattlEye anti-cheat used.
- Rocket League was removed from Steam, however it does work with Wine (which Proton is built from) if you use something like the Heroic Games Launcher.
- Total War: WARHAMMER II has a native Linux port but the multiplayer is separated from Windows, it does also work with Proton.
- The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth has a native port but the latest DLC does not, so it needs Proton for that.
- Fallout 4 works but needs a small launch option fix for the audio.
- Arma 3 single-player can work with Proton but multiplayer does not, same for eFootball PES 2021 SEASON UPDATE.
- Sea of Thieves works but is missing in-game voice chat.
The takeaway here is that when blending together native Linux builds, those that run well with the official Valve Proton and Proton GE you can currently expect approximately 75% (minus 3 if you don't want to count Proton GE) of the top 100 to work on Linux / SteamOS and so hopefully the SteamOS Linux powered Steam Deck too.
It's never going to be an exact figure because PC gaming (both Windows and Linux) has so many possible configurations, there's a lot of wiggle room for games to work for one person and not another so as always take it with a grain of salt. How well they work within the constraints of the Steam Deck is another matter, many will need special tweaks.
When you think about those broken by anti-cheat, 15 might not sound like a lot but these are they absolute most popular games on Steam. Their absence will be felt if they aren't updated to work.
Considering there are over 52,000 games on Steam (with hundreds releasing each week), Valve has plenty of work to do with Proton to hit their marketing where they've said their aim is for all games to work. Hopefully a bunch more developers will also look to support Linux directly with either native builds or properly test against Proton to further increase compatibility.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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The comments on this article are closed.
Quoting: BielFPsThe fact that they don't need to is the key point, remember that most of the profit from steam comes from Windows users so Valve isn't losing anything from developers not supporting Proton.They would lose the investment made for Proton (hence, the Deck).
I don't think it isn't that much.
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Quoting: kokoko3kIf we assume that the enormous effort Valve made for Linux gaming was finalized to the Steam machines first and the Deck nowIt wasn't. They aren't making anywhere near enough units for the Steam Deck to be a console platform, and they're (still) perfectly happy for other OEMs to make gaming machines with Linux on. The Steam Deck is a demonstration device, not an end point.
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Quoting: CatKillerDon't forget it's also partly jealousy. Gabe Newell previously said he was jealous of Nintendo with them making hardware and software together. There's many reasons for Valve doing all this, I wouldn't say any one specific reason any more.Quoting: kokoko3kIf we assume that the enormous effort Valve made for Linux gaming was finalized to the Steam machines first and the Deck nowIt wasn't. They aren't making anywhere near enough units for the Steam Deck to be a console platform, and they're (still) perfectly happy for other OEMs to make gaming machines with Linux on. The Steam Deck is a demonstration device, not an end point.
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Quoting: CatKillerHeheh, sounds nice, i must admit.Quoting: kokoko3kIf we assume that the enormous effort Valve made for Linux gaming was finalized to the Steam machines first and the Deck nowIt wasn't. They aren't making anywhere near enough units for the Steam Deck to be a console platform, and they're (still) perfectly happy for other OEMs to make gaming machines with Linux on. The Steam Deck is a demonstration device, not an end point.
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Quoting: Liam DaweDon't forget it's also partly jealousy. Gabe Newell previously said he was jealous of Nintendo with them making hardware and software together. There's many reasons for Valve doing all this, I wouldn't say any one specific reason any more.Sure, there are plenty of things that are great about the Deck from Valve's perspective.
People buying PC games on Steam that would never want to deal with a PC? Awesome.
People buying their PC games on Steam rather than elsewhere because it's the easiest way to play them on the Deck? Awesome.
Developers using standardised Steam APIs rather than This One Weird Trick? Awesome.
People buying all those crazy unique indie games, so the big publishers can't dictate terms simply by being big? Awesome.
Every media outlet and YouTuber talking about Steam for months on end? Awesome.
But it's definitely not primarily a hardware play (they aren't making anywhere near enough units, by several orders of magnitude), and it's not the reason for the Linux investment but an extension of it.
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Quoting: BielFPsQuoting: Purple Library GuyI would be really surprised if Valve were unable to persuade those people to enable their anticheat to work with Proton.
The fact that they don't need to is the key point, remember that most of the profit from steam comes from Windows users so Valve isn't losing anything from developers not supporting Proton.
Don't forget that the release of the Deck is a major event, so there will be adds, and promotions and perhaps even parties. As a game dev you want as much publicity / visibility as possible so they should be interested in being included in the upcoming Deck promotions.
This is one of the reasons why the big publishing houses never release a native linux build even though they obviously have one internally (for Stadia) -> that doing so won't get them inclusion on some big event and why they instead release on say the Switch since Nintendo will give them free air time.
So if Valve handles to release of the Deck properly then there should be huge interest to be on the hype train.
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Quoting: ArtenYou've never done anything for any reason other than profit? Or are Valve shareholders of a different species than you? Maybe you'd be right if they were Ferengi.
Again, my point is some people (don't know if it's your case too) are thinking Valve is doing all of this in a "holy crusade of pushing Linux game for the greater good"
Let's pretend this was true, a very effective way would be for them to subsidize the development of Linux versions of the most popular games at the moment for example, but this wouldn't make them (Valve) profit more with sales than they already do with those games being windows only (again they profit in both cases)
Quoting: BeamboomSPEAK... With the ghosts?! 😮It's a feature of the game :)
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Quoting: kokoko3kQuoting: dxmnHopefully Valve adds an easy way to implement GE's Proton into the steam deck. There are already tools like protonup that automate the aforementioned 5 minute processWhy?
If Valve wants you to use ProtonGE, the straightforward way is to ship it by default alongside "vanilla" Proton.
Are there licensing issues i'm not aware of?
I feel that most people who buy the deck are looking for a simple handheld comparable to the switch or something alike, and wouldn't want to go as far as to open the shell or change to a desktop environment in order to use it, or wouldn't be confident that they wouldn't break something along the way.
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Quoting: elmapulQuoting: ShabbyXQuoting: BielFPsQuoting: ShabbyXThey did this to take advantage of the Cortana's AI, despite the "Windows dependency" part, I think this was actually pretty smart of them.Quoting: BielFPs... that Phasmophobia requires Cortana to use the voice functions of the game, ...
Wow, that's so braindead.
That's a sure way of making sure your game is completely unplayable in 5 years is what that is.
at the worst case scenario, they disable this feature and the game do work.
you seem like someone who prefer an game to never exist than to exit for a few time.
Disclaimer, I know nothing about this game, if the feature is entirely optional, then sure, that's fine.
If it's a core part of the game, then making it depend on some tech existing and shipping by the operating system is braindead. API's change, technologies change, it's not like the Cortana API has been standardized. In a few years Cortana will change enough that the game would be borked.
Adding voice recognition to games is a smart idea, sure. Just the technology used to implement it was wrong. They could have used some third party library (open source preferable of course) they could ship and not worry about it changing.
Again, if the feature can be disabled and is entirely optional, then sure, go nuts.
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Quoting: kokoko3kThey would lose the investment made for Proton (hence, the Deck).A minimal acceptable one, check the analogy I made in my other posts.
I don't think it isn't that much.
They can make this (minimal) risky investment because Proton / Deck are just a sub product for their main revenue (steam games). In other words, their Linux support is just a means (not being Microsoft dependent) to an end (keep their position as the biggest game store)
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