Key findings
- Valve may be developing an ARM64 version of Proton for Linux gaming.
- Hundreds of games, such as Left 4 Dead, have been tested for compatibility with a new 64-bit layer.
- The potential of ARM64-based portable consoles opens up exciting new possibilities.
2024 has been a fantastic year for Windows on Arm, with companies like Adobe and Google porting their apps to the architecture. However, Linux users on an ARM64 architecture may have felt a little left out over the past few months. Thankfully, that may soon change, as it seems that Valve is working on getting its PC gaming apps to run on ARM64 Linux devices.
Valve may be working on making Steam compatible with ARM64 devices
Discovered by Tom's HardwareValve seems to be working on an ARM64 version of Proton. Proton is Valve's special compatibility layer that helps Windows games run on Linux machines without the user having to do anything. So this is great news for people who like to play on an open source operating system.
Tom's Hardware stated that “literally hundreds” of games have been tested on this new ARM64 Proton layer, including huge hits like left 4 Dead And Shadow of MordorThe update also identifies games that work well with Windows on Arm.
That's already fantastic news for Linux gamers, but it also opens up the possibility of Valve opening the doors to portable ARM64 Linux-based consoles. There's a chance the company could develop its own ARM64 variant of the Steam Deck, but I think it's more likely that the company is preparing for potential Arm-based gaming consoles. After all, Valve could soon introduce SteamOS to other devices, so it would make sense for the company to introduce this technology to support third-party ARM64 devices that may already be in development.
Regardless of what Valve has in store, this development is fantastic news for fans of the Arm architecture. We'll see if Arm devices ultimately become the best devices for gaming.