Just recently we had Epic Games announce that Easy Anti-Cheat now offers proper native Linux support and in addition support for Wine and Steam Play Proton - now we have BattlEye also confirming the same readying up for the Steam Deck.
They announced this in a short and to the point Twitter post:
BattlEye has provided native Linux and Mac support for a long time and we can announce that we will also support the upcoming Steam Deck (Proton). This will be done on an opt-in basis with game developers choosing whether they want to allow it or not.
So again developers will have a bit of work to do as it's not going to be automatic, so it remains to be seen what developers will actually enable this. Considering the Steam Deck has already seemingly done quite well on reservations, there will be a lot of disappointed players if some games are blocked when they ship with the Arch Linux-based SteamOS 3 distribution.
BattlEye was another blocker for Proton, not working, despite so many popular online Windows games using it. Games that currently use BattlEye include (but not limited to):
- Conan Exiles
- DayZ
- Planetside 2
- PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS
Even though it's opt-in like EAC, it's still very important progress. Now is the time to make developers aware that you want to see their games get this hooked up and ready.
A good time to remind game developers and readers to ensure you email us news tips, especially if a game enables this to start working so we don't miss it.
Quoting: scaineYeah, quite a few games have native EAC, such as 7 Days to Die. The problem has only ever been a) lack of native titles, which is compounded by b) lack of anti-cheat support via Proton.
This fixes b) finally.
Doubt it'll do much to help a) though, I'm afraid.
Indeed, Unfortunately it still means no buy from me.
Quoting: STiATI think with EAC being from EAEpic*
Quoting: gustavoyaraujoAll of this because of Valve and their idea to put the Linux as the default OS for Steam Deck.All of this because Microsoft wanted to make Windows more similar to a smartphone, it's always amazing how the butterfly effect works.
There's still a lot of inertia to get past when it comes to the idea of supporting anything related to Linux, especially when it's management making the call. No matter how simple the switches are to flip, the question will be "Do we devote manpower to Linux when it's maybe 1% of the gaming market, and most of them probably dual-boot anyway?"
I know people are excited for this but I'm cautiously optimistic. We know companies don't have a great track record with Linux support and EAC has had opt-in Linux support for a while IIRC, so this may not change as much as people think. We will have to wait to see what happens and hope that Valve has a backup plan.
This still requires the devs to opt-in in some form, which I assume means a simple update to the anticheat config inside the game. No matter how easy that is to do, from a corporate perspective it probably means an entire "update cycle" with all the overhead that involves -- explaining the change to everyone involved, getting the appropriate sign-offs and QA tests, etc. They probably won't have the infrastructure to test the change via Proton, either, which can conflict with company policy on QA procedures. Worse, it may also bring up the specter of "Linux support" and the associated baggage there, where they expect that some update will break something minor and then the Linux community turns toxic and they'll wish they never tried at all.
In short, EAC and BattleEye providing the option is a great and necessary step, but there's still a lot of frustrating bureaucracy to get through. I think our best shot is that the Deck sells well enough to motivate studios to unofficially support it (via Proton), but it's a little circular since the Deck needs widespread support to sell well in the first place.
Quotewe will also support the upcoming Steam Deck (Proton)
It really does sound like they will have a proprietary module on the steam deck with in-kernel anti-cheat, not sure we'll be able to use that on our computers?
Quoting: MayeulCQuotewe will also support the upcoming Steam Deck (Proton)
It really does sound like they will have a proprietary module on the steam deck with in-kernel anti-cheat, not sure we'll be able to use that on our computers?
I don't remember where I read this but Valve stated that this will all be available outside of Steam Deck
Quoting: QuinnThere's still a lot of inertia to get past when it comes to the idea of supporting anything related to Linux, especially when it's management making the call. No matter how simple the switches are to flip, the question will be "Do we devote manpower to Linux when it's maybe 1% of the gaming market, and most of them probably dual-boot anyway?"
The trick from the engineering side will be to sell management Steam Deck support without ever mentioning Linux.
Quoting: KohlyKohlQuoting: MayeulCQuotewe will also support the upcoming Steam Deck (Proton)
It really does sound like they will have a proprietary module on the steam deck with in-kernel anti-cheat, not sure we'll be able to use that on our computers?
I don't remember where I read this but Valve stated that this will all be available outside of Steam Deck
Here you go - fifth question down: https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2021/09/valve-answer-questions-about-the-steam-deck-in-a-new-faq-anti-cheat-for-all-linux-systems
they didnt get hitman 2+3. it also makes no sense to port the new life is strange
they dont get AAA like 2077
now they dont even have to port online games
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