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EA recently sent Origin to the graveyard and replaced it with the EA App, which caused numerous problems on Linux desktop and Steam Deck but it looks like the biggest problems are over on that.

The problem is that these extra external launchers can cause a number of issues for the Proton compatibility layer. This is because Valve (and their open source contractors who work on Proton) need time to catch-up on the compatibility side. The switchover came with problems, which Valve partially solved a week later but it still had issues leading me to do a guide on getting it working again. Another few weeks later, Valve put a proper fix in to stop the EA App failing to update.

With that all done and the dust settled, Valve has now gone back through multiple problematic EA published titles to re-review them for Steam Deck compatibility.

Titles include:

  • Battlefield 1.
  • Jedi Fallen Order.
  • Sims 4.
  • Titanfall 2.

All officially noted to be playable again, with Valve setting them to use Proton Experimental by default.

Nice to see Valve do go back over certain titles to check them again, although they really need to do that for God of War that has a bug that can reboot your Steam Deck.

Be sure to follow GamingOnLinux on YouTube to see videos on those and many more games.

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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I am the owner of GamingOnLinux. After discovering Linux back in the days of Mandrake in 2003, I constantly came back to check on the progress of Linux until Ubuntu appeared on the scene and it helped me to really love it. You can reach me easily by emailing GamingOnLinux directly. Find me on Mastodon.
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8 comments

legluondunet Jan 23, 2023
I confirm that Jedi Fallen Order works nicely on Linux, very nice game with impressive graphism.
damarrin Jan 23, 2023
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I'm really glad the EA App mess is sorted. I've been playing the Mass Effect games to great success recently. The launcher takes more time to start than the game itself then takes to start and load a saved game.
Termy Jan 23, 2023
I managed to damage the EA app for fallen order beyond repair (lest re-creating the prefix) - man did that improve the UX!
Unfortunately, that also prevented achievements and cloudsave to function, but i guess that's the lesser evil.

But after giving the Origin/the new App another chance for 5 bucks, this surely was the last time i gave them money as long as they insist of annoying users with this abomination...
randomgamerguy1997 Jan 23, 2023
Still can't play battlefield 5 due to the EA app. Origin was so much better to deal with to be honest.
Craggles086 Jan 24, 2023
Yeah, nothing from EA goes to Verified without a written guarantee from EA that they will not be updating their launcher without testing on the SteamDeck.
hardpenguin Jan 24, 2023
Very good, Battlefield 1 plays great on Proton. So do Sims 4!
wof8317 Jan 24, 2023
The only good thing about the EA App is that I can finally play Battlefield 3 on Steam without having to go buy another copy of the game on Origin, because of the use of the use of the browser-based Battlelog using a user-agent switcher. Only works on Linux Desktop, not Steam Deck unfortunately. Other than that, it still sucks.
grace_art Jan 29, 2023
According to the Steam community for many EA games including Andromeda and DA:I, even Windows users have been unable to launch their Steam games for weeks, though a few have found work-arounds that involve launching the .exe directly from the file directory. Not a fix for Linux/Proton users unfortunately (Unless there is, but I'm not tech-savvy enough to figure it out).

IF EA doesn't want to sell their games through Steam, they just need to remove them already.

Funnily enough, as of today Mass Effect Legendary launched with Origin (and updated to EA Play in seconds) and Andromeda is caught in the EA Play install purgatory, which causes me to have to force-reboot my computer just to close Steam, even when I try cancelling the install.
Obviously they stopped caring about Andromeda like a month after it launched, but it would be nice to have *some* consistency between their titles, as far as bloated launchers go. Pick one and stick with it!
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