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PayPalWe may potentially be in for some big changes in Fedora 44, with plans in place being discussed to drop 32-bit multilib / i686 packages.
I hope they remember what happened when Canonical planned the same for Ubuntu, when Valve jumped in to note they would no longer recommend Ubuntu and then Canonical backtracked on it. Linux distro developers may not like it, but Steam is huge and requires 32-bit to work properly for the client and for Proton / Wine.
This is only a proposed change for Fedora 44 onwards, it has not yet been approved. They're having a vote on the Fedora Forum where the change is being discussed. Even if it's approved, Steam wouldn't be the only problem, there's no doubt various other apps, tools and games that would break with such a huge change. At least with the Wine 9.0 release, WoW64 saw a huge improvement for running 32bit games on a full 64bit system.
The Fedora developers do at least note in the proposal that Wine and Steam are part of the dependencies on this, so they are thinking it through and aware of the issues.
Changes like this might push Valve to move a little quicker to adapt Steam to full 64bit, but I wouldn't expect anything ready any time soon. Especially when you look at Valve's own stats where Fedora doesn't even register in the top 11 distributions used on Steam. Although, we don't know what distros make up the 7% for the Steam Flatpak - but that's not supported by Valve anyway.
What are your thoughts?
Update 12:52 UTC - in response to some replies on their forum, the developer who proposed the change made it clear that eventually it will have to happen:
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.This is why it’s a proposal, and why I filed it more than 6 months earlier than strictly required.
But just to clarify - we will need to drop support for 32-bit x86 at some point. It’s dead, and more and more software just doesn’t support being built and / or run in 32-bit environments at all.
Yes, some things will stop working. But I hope that we can provide solutions and / or workarounds for most use cases.
And it’s better to start planning for the removal of i686 packages now than when (insert foundational package here - for example, CPython) stops supporting 32-bit architectures and we need to scramble to adapt.
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Stella 7 hours ago
R Daneel Olivaw 7 hours ago
I wonder why Steam is dragging their feet so much on making the move to 64?
Looking at those stats is pretty amazing, it's basically all two distros: arch & ubuntu. If they do adopt this change for f44, I'll be forced to migrate somewhere else, and since I don't want to go back to any form of rolling release, I guess it'll be kubuntu for me? I'm not sure.
Also, I wonder what GE will do? His ENTIRE distro Nobara is based off of Fedora!!!!!!!!!! He'll have to migrate the base to something else, or do some weird hackery, or just drop it entirely? Man this is so crazy.
Szkodnix 6 hours ago
Let's wait for more news.
Eike 6 hours ago
I wonder why Steam is dragging their feet so much on making the move to 64?
There's these tons of games needing 32 bit anyway?!?
Pyrate 6 hours ago
.
TheSHEEEP 6 hours ago
People have to start moving on, and developers have to start preparing for allowing people to move on. We can't keep grandpa 32bit alive forever.
Last edited by TheSHEEEP on 24 Jun 2025 at 1:04 pm UTC
Liam Dawe 6 hours ago
Zlopez 6 hours ago
Zlopez 6 hours ago
There's these tons of games needing 32 bit anyway?!?
Steam is solving that with Linux Runtime containers, so there is no need to have Steam itself run 32 bit.
legluondunet 6 hours ago
Wine 10.x version can now execute 32 bits apps without the need of this 32 bits libraries.
Stella 6 hours ago
This would mean games either have severe issues, or not work at all any more after this change
Last edited by Stella on 24 Jun 2025 at 1:46 pm UTC
pleasereadthemanual 5 hours ago
I recommend switching to [bazzite](https://bazzite.gg/) instead if you want to play on Fedora. I'm using the flatpak version of Steam and I'm happy with it (not playing much on it). For serious gaming I still have Steam Deck.
As a user mentions in the discussion, removal of 32-bit support will impact Gamescope:
This would negatively impact downstream distributions like Bazzite.
In order for Gamescope to function properly, Steam (and it’s dependencies) need to be packaged as an RPM. Flatpak steam would not work as an alternative.
Neal Gompa mentions:
This also would break OBS’ gamecapture of games since that requires a 32-bit userspace graphics stack.
---
Wine 10.x version can now execute 32 bits apps without the need of this 32 bits libraries.But old Native Linux games can't be run on Wine.
Though I seriously doubt old native Linux games run at all without patching, in my experience :) Hell, there are plenty of native games released less than 10 years ago I couldn't run without patching libraries.
I don't use Fedora, so count me unconcerned. I did...for a brief time. But certain things were just...harder on that distribution. I do miss the extra security though.
AsciiWolf 5 hours ago
Flatpak Steam has a whole bunch of its own issues and is not supported by Valve, it's not a direct replacement.
The RPM package is not supported either.
Steam is solving that with Linux Runtime containers, so there is no need to have Steam itself run 32 bit.
The problem is that the Steam client itself is a 32-bit application.
Eike 5 hours ago
Steam is solving that with Linux Runtime containers, so there is no need to have Steam itself run 32 bit.
And these go without 32 bit libraries...?
Or are we looking forward to Valve caring for all those?
Pyrate 4 hours ago
And, tbh, so should WINE.
AMD64 is 22 years old, x86-64 is 21 years old.
After two decades, you can safely assume (the mother of fuckups be damned) that most of your userbase uses the "new" technology.
hummer010 4 hours ago
There's these tons of games needing 32 bit anyway?!?
Is there though? 32 bit Windows games can be run on 64 bit Wine / Proton without the need for 32 bit libraries. In my experience, the vast majority of native games are already 64 bit.
I've been running 64 bit only for two years now, and have yet to come across a game I can't play.
Valve needs to join the 2010's, and move the Steam client to 64 bit.
Last edited by hummer010 on 24 Jun 2025 at 3:37 pm UTC
Eike 4 hours ago
After two decades, you can safely assume (the mother of fuckups be damned) that most of your userbase uses the "new" technology.
That's not the problem. The users do have it, yes. But the games of the last decades don't magically turn to 64 bits.
Maybe some light virtual machinery can solve this in the future?
Arehandoro 4 hours ago
rcrit 3 hours ago
I have several (many?) non-Steam Linux-native games that are 32-bit only. Some from early Humble Bundles, others purchased retail. They still work for now on Fedora.
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