To begin 2022, let's take a fresh look at the current top 100 Steam games and see how well (or not) the run on Linux.
As part of a series we shall be doing, where we first took a proper look at this back in October 2021, including games that are both Native to Linux and Windows games that are run through the Steam Play Proton compatibility layer. With help from ProtonDB reports to investigate.
Something to keep in mind is that while the top 5-10 games doesn't change too often on Steam, the rest do fluctuate quite a lot as it often depends on some of the bigger releases that appear. We are once again going by the numbers on SteamDB using their 24 hour peak-player count. Take this as your snapshot of how things are a month before the Steam Deck releases to see what you might expect to work or not.
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 |
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive | 802,899 | Linux Native |
Dota 2 | 723,708 | Linux Native |
PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS | 336,367 | Broken (Anti-Cheat) |
Apex Legends | 216,295 | Broken (Anti-Cheat) |
Grand Theft Auto V | 142,431 | Works with Proton |
NARAKA: BLADEPOINT | 137,210 | Broken (Anti-Cheat) |
Team Fortress 2 | 127,787 | Linux Native |
Rust | 110,963 | Broken (Anti-Cheat) |
New World | 109,256 | Broken (Anti-Cheat) |
Football Manager 2022 | 84,705 | Works with Proton |
ARK: Survival Evolved | 84,566 | Linux Native and Works with Proton |
Wallpaper Engine | 76,064 | Sort-of works with KDE Plasma |
MIR4 | 70,919 | Broken |
Warframe | 70,883 | Works with Proton |
FIFA 22 | 70,373 | Works with Proton |
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt | 70,072 | Works with Proton |
Destiny 2 | 69,132 | Broken (Anti-Cheat) |
Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege | 65,840 | Broken (Anti-Cheat) |
FINAL FANTASY XIV Online | 58,414 | Works with Proton |
Project Zomboid | 57,533 | Linux Native |
7 Days to Die | 56,932 | Linux Native |
Farming Simulator 22 | 55,657 | Works with Proton |
Dead by Daylight | 55,320 | Broken (Anti-Cheat) |
Terraria | 51,900 | Linux Native |
Rocket League | 51,503 | Works with Proton* |
DayZ | 49,610 | Works with Proton |
Valheim | 48,871 | Linux Native |
Sid Meier's Civilization VI | 48,626 | Linux Native |
SUPER PEOPLE CBT | 48,160 | Broken |
Halo Infinite | 47,576 | Broken |
PAYDAY 2 | 46,869 | Linux Native |
Euro Truck Simulator 2 | 46,764 | Linux Native |
Unturned | 44,374 | Linux Native |
World of Tanks Blitz | 43,230 | Works with Proton |
Stardew Valley | 42,350 | Linux Native |
Don't Starve Together | 40,850 | Linux Native |
Hearts of Iron IV | 40,452 | Linux Native |
Garry's Mod | 38,316 | Linux Native |
War Thunder | 38,194 | Linux Native |
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition | 36,657 | Works with Proton |
Red Dead Redemption 2 | 35,314 | Works with Proton |
Sea of Thieves | 33,711 | Works with Proton* |
Phasmophobia | 33,508 | Works with Proton* |
Hunt: Showdown | 30,944 | Broken (Anti-Cheat) |
The Elder Scrolls Online | 28,763 | Works with Proton |
Total War: WARHAMMER II | 28,718 | Linux Native |
Left 4 Dead 2 | 28,591 | Linux Native |
Monster Hunter: World | 28,102 | Works with Proton |
The Sims 4 | 26,391 | Works with Proton |
Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord | 25,881 | Works with Proton |
Bloons TD 6 | 25,531 | Works with Proton |
VRChat | 25,314 | Works with Proton |
Europa Universalis IV | 24,501 | Linux Native |
Black Desert | 24,149 | Broken (Anti-Cheat) |
雀魂麻将(MahjongSoul) | 23,854 | Works with Proton |
The Forest | 23,626 | Works with Proton |
Battlefield V | 23,484 | Works with Proton |
F1 2021 | 23,351 | Unstable with Proton, has issues* |
Cyberpunk 2077 | 22,964 | Works with Proton |
Satisfactory | 22,875 | Works with Proton |
Sid Meier's Civilization V | 22,717 | Linux Native |
Stellaris | 22,422 | Linux Native |
RimWorld | 22,180 | Linux Native |
The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth | 22,077 | Linux Native* |
Fallout 4 | 21,730 | Works with Proton |
Cities: Skylines | 21,316 | Linux Native |
DARK SOULS III | 21,295 | Works with Proton |
Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition | 21,207 | Works with Proton* |
tModLoader | 20,663 | Linux Native |
Brawlhalla | 20,611 | Works with Proton* |
Forza Horizon 4 | 20,608 | Unstable with Proton |
It Takes Two | 20,595 | Works with Proton |
NBA 2K22 | 20,079 | Works with Proton |
Forza Horizon 5 | 19,778 | Unstable with Proton |
Age of Empires IV | 19,775 | Unstable with Proton |
Cookie Clicker | 19,163 | Works with Proton |
SMITE | 18,911 | Works with Proton GE |
Football Manager 2021 | 18,730 | Works with Proton |
Arma 3 | 18,396 | Works with Proton |
Crusader Kings III | 17,797 | Linux Native |
鬼谷八荒 Tale of Immortal | 17,579 | Works with Proton |
Counter-Strike | 17,294 | Linux Native |
Factorio | 16,278 | Linux Native |
Icarus | 16,270 | Broken |
Path of Exile | 15,741 | Works with Proton |
Deep Rock Galactic | 15,648 | Works with Proton |
Dying Light | 15,569 | Linux Native |
Among Us | 15,061 | Works with Proton |
Raft | 14,448 | Works with Proton |
Ready or Not | 14,184 | Works with Proton |
Battlefield 2042 | 14,174 | Broken (Anti-Cheat) |
Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout | 13,949 | Broken (Anti-Cheat) |
Oxygen Not Included | 13,912 | Linux Native |
Divinity: Original Sin 2 | 13,693 | Works with Proton |
SCUM | 13,672 | Broken (Anti-Cheat) |
Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice | 13,579 | Works with Proton |
Soundpad | 13,568 | Broken |
theHunter: Call of the Wild | 13,555 | Works with Proton |
Conan Exiles | 13,532 | Broken (Anti-Cheat) |
Gunfire Reborn | 13,205 | Works with Proton |
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.
- Rocket League works but was removed from Steam for new players. However, it does work with Wine (which Proton is built from) if you use something like the Heroic Games Launcher to get it from Epic.
- Sea of Thieves voice comms don't work.
- Phasmophobia just recently seemed to fix the voice comms with Proton.
- We did not count Myth of Empires, as Steam delisted it due to ongoing legal troubles.
- F1 2021 had some fixes for AMD GPUs lately but still seem pretty problematic overall.
- The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth is Linux Native, but the latest DLC is Windows-only but that does work with Proton.
- Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition works but online multiplayer can desync unless you do a small fix.
- Brawlhalla added EAC, which you can disable and they're trying to support Proton with it.
With not long to go until the Steam Deck releases, hopefully Valve still have a few releases of Proton to improve things further. Anti-Cheat continues to be the biggest hurdle for Linux gaming and the Steam Deck. We've not seen many titles at all enable it officially, with the current list being quite small. We do expect that to change if the Steam Deck is a success though, and we fully expect it to be - as long as Valve can get enough units produced.
A few false-flags have appeared over the last few months like Rainbox Six Siege suddenly working, however do remember that until Valve or the developer actually confirm it, they will likely (and it did) stop working due to the anti-cheat.
Personally, I've not been able to get DayZ to work myself (now it's supported) but I know plenty of others have. Even with the suggested fixes, I just get a black screen, which is a shame. In some ways Proton is still a bit of a minefield like that, hopefully a solution will be found.
The most important part — the numbers: we're currently seeing around 76% of the top 100 (based on peak player counts) as of January 2022 working on Linux with Native Linux games and Windows games in Proton taken together. So, things are looking pretty good ahead of the Steam Deck launch since it will use SteamOS 3 which is based on Arch Linux.
This awesome tool supports downloading and installing many other things for Steam/Heroic/Lutris as well, Proton-GE, Lutris-Wine, Luxtorpeda to name but a few.
Sorry, my sarcasm gland is throbbing something fierce over here.
Between a certain video series and a well known Linux Youtuber telling people not to game on Linux I am a little grumpy. I understand criticisms, but I prefer a "here's what you must know" format to a "don't do it unless you are weird" type attitude, especially when they set unrealistically high bars*
* unrealistically high if you are high jumping, or unrealistically low if you are limbo dancing
Quoting: rustybroomhandle76%? Not good enough, it must be 100% or Linux fails! FAILS!
Sorry, my sarcasm gland is throbbing something fierce over here.
Between a certain video series and a well known Linux Youtuber telling people not to game on Linux I am a little grumpy. I understand criticisms, but I prefer a "here's what you must know" format to a "don't do it unless you are weird" type attitude, especially when they set unrealistically high bars*
* unrealistically high if you are high jumping, or unrealistically low if you are limbo dancing
My opinions are mixed. On the one hand, setting people up with high expectations is historically a bad idea because it doesn't end well for anyone, with animosity on all sides. But saying that GNU/Linux is DOA as a gaming platform is a bizarre take to me. For one thing, it really depends on what games you play. And for another, it has a library many times larger than any singular gaming console—and that's if you just count the Steam games. If, however, gaming is a social exercise for you, you're likely not going to be able to play games with your friends frequently. And it's not the only issue.
Coaxing eroge into functioning on GNU/Linux is an exercise in frustration I wouldn't recommend lightly, for instance. And when I finally do get them working, what I wouldn't give to be able to fullscreen some of these games without them crashing...800x640 resolution is not fun. If you're the type of person who mostly plays this genre of games, there's miles to go. Even if there's only really 2 or 3 DRM schemes blocking the way, my bet is that they're 10 years away from working in WINE, if they ever work at all.
Last edited by pleasereadthemanual on 4 January 2022 at 12:24 pm UTC
Quoting: rustybroomhandle76%? Not good enough, it must be 100% or Linux fails! FAILS!I see Linux as equivalent of console gaming. If you buy a PlayStation, you do not expect to be able to run XBox games. In the same way I fully realize that when running Linux I will not be able to play all Windows games, and that is fine.
The latest Call of Warfare does not run on Linux? Well, I am an adult with a full-time job, and a several hundred games backlog on Steam. By the time I will have time to even consider playing it, Call of Warfare 4 will be out, and I will still have hundreds of other games to choose from.
Quoting: GuestQuoting: LinasQuoting: rustybroomhandle76%? Not good enough, it must be 100% or Linux fails! FAILS!I see Linux as equivalent of console gaming. If you buy a PlayStation, you do not expect to be able to run XBox games. In the same way I fully realize that when running Linux I will not be able to play all Windows games, and that is fine.
The latest Call of Warfare does not run on Linux? Well, I am an adult with a full-time job, and a several hundred games backlog on Steam. By the time I will have time to even consider playing it, Call of Warfare 4 will be out, and I will still have hundreds of other games to choose from.
This isn't the same as PS Vs Xbox exclusives. If you buy a Steam based console you expect to be able to play everything in your Steam library
Why? This makes no sense. If that is the expectation they are setting for your users then yes, but if they are telling people that "these 80% verified green tick games work" then you should not expect to run the other 20% and then complain about it.
QuoteThen there is the thorny issue of games not on Steam which, again, millions are going to want to play. Gamers are going to be able to expect to download EA Origin, Uplay, Epic (most will not know about Heroic) and expect to be able to install it. Again it won't be Steam or the developers of those stores who get the blame.
Why would customers expect to be able to play non-Steam games on the Steam Deck? I don't buy an Xbox console expecting to play PlayStation games, or a Switch expecting to play Xbox games.
You can argue that Valve is setting up this expectation by talking about how open it is, and how the customer actually owns the product, but this isn't a normal expectation at all.
In fact, I wonder how these users would even stumble out of the Steam client mode and onto the "regular desktop" and then onto epicgames.com. It's not obvious to me, from the few videos I've seen on it.
QuoteIt will be an unpopular opinion but Valve would have been better off shipping Windows on the Steam Deck out of the box and just not locking down the bootloader for anyone who wants to install linux.
That entirely depends on what Valve wants out of the Steam Deck. Most companies end up losing a lot of money on consoles anyway and make it back on the games and services.
Keep in mind that not all of these games would be playable on a Windows version of the Steam Deck, either. I can't imagine playing MapleStory or something like it on the Steam Deck; that would be painful. I think Valve really wants a platform—their own platform. Just like Microsoft wanted a Direct XBox, and Sony based their PlayStations on FreeBSD.
Ultimately, of course, the customer will decide if they want to be on that platform. Guess we'll find out next month.
Quoting: rustybroomhandleWhy? This makes no sense. If that is the expectation they are setting for your users then yes, but if they are telling people that "these 80% verified green tick games work" then you should not expect to run the other 20% and then complain about it.
Well, if you go to the website, they don't say anything about some of your games not working. They set up expectations to the contrary like:
Steam, without compromises
Your Steam library is already on your Deck.
Once you've logged into Steam Deck, your entire Steam Library shows up, just like any other PC. You'll be able to find your collections and favorites - exactly where you left them.
Quoting: pleasereadthemanualAnd I still think it's really bad to market it like that, but the other side is...it's marketing, of course they're going to say that. The reality, as we all know, is different. Unless, they are hiding a number of Proton updates and have more anti-cheat stuff lined up.Quoting: rustybroomhandleWhy? This makes no sense. If that is the expectation they are setting for your users then yes, but if they are telling people that "these 80% verified green tick games work" then you should not expect to run the other 20% and then complain about it.
Well, if you go to the website, they don't say anything about some of your games not working. They set up expectations to the contrary like:
Steam, without compromises
Your Steam library is already on your Deck.
Once you've logged into Steam Deck, your entire Steam Library shows up, just like any other PC. You'll be able to find your collections and favorites - exactly where you left them.
Quoting: Liam DaweQuoting: pleasereadthemanualAnd I still think it's really bad to market it like that, but the other side is...it's marketing, of course they're going to say that. The reality, as we all know, is different. Unless, they are hiding a number of Proton updates and have more anti-cheat stuff lined up.Quoting: rustybroomhandleWhy? This makes no sense. If that is the expectation they are setting for your users then yes, but if they are telling people that "these 80% verified green tick games work" then you should not expect to run the other 20% and then complain about it.
Well, if you go to the website, they don't say anything about some of your games not working. They set up expectations to the contrary like:
Steam, without compromises
Your Steam library is already on your Deck.
Once you've logged into Steam Deck, your entire Steam Library shows up, just like any other PC. You'll be able to find your collections and favorites - exactly where you left them.
I don't begrudge them for it, I was simply challenging the argument that all customers know what they're getting into. We know the reality is different, but I have to wonder how many others don't.
On the other hand, of course, you are right. They have to come out strong with a product like this, not start putting doubts into customers' minds. I'm personally partial to CodeWeavers' marketing for CrossOver, but that's a $60 software product that you can trial. Not a $399 hunk of metal you have to ship back.
I've heard some strange rumors about Valve holding onto an "internal" version of Proton that is supposedly much different to what regular users have access to, but I've dismissed it as people misunderstanding something about ProtonDB.
Time will tell, I suppose.
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