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PayPalDoing something similar to what Valve will do for the Steam Frame, Canonical have announced a Steam gaming Snap package for Arm. Making use of the open source FEX emulator that Valve are funding, it all comes bundled together to allow you to play Steam games on Linux with Arm systems.
In a post on the Ubuntu Discourse forum they've called for testing. Since this is coming from Canonical, it is not supported by Valve directly.
They left some notes about testing and compatibility:
- Our primary focus so far has been developing and testing this on the NVIDIA DGX Spark with the 580.95.05 NVIDIA driver series.
- Early performance testing on DGX Spark is promising in several games in our libraries (both native, and via Proton). (Details below)
- We are currently investigating a known issue preventing proper client functionality on Qualcomm Snapdragon X laptops
- This snap will not currently run on Apple Silicon Macs running Asahi Linux due to their 16k page size requirement
Some benchmarks they shared which they noted are "not intended to be comprehensive; rather, it is just a quick a look into the types of games we’ve had success with so far":
| Game | Native Platform | Performance | Device |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cyberpunk 2077 | Windows x86 (via Proton) | 200+ FPS w/ DLSS | NVIDIA DGX Spark w/ DGX OS (Ubuntu Noble) |
| Counter-Strike 2 | Linux x86 | smooth, no notable performance issues (2+ hour session, mostly arms race) | NVIDIA DGX Spark w/ DGX OS (Ubuntu Noble) |
| Marvel Cosmic Invasion | Linux x86 | no notable performance issues | NVIDIA DGX Spark w/ DGX OS (Ubuntu Noble) |
| Lonely Mountains: Snow Riders | Windows x86 (via Proton) | smooth, no notable performance issues. (2+ hour session) | NVIDIA DGX Spark w/ DGX OS (Ubuntu Noble) |
| DOTA 2 | Linux x86 | smooth, no notable performance issues | NVIDIA DGX Spark w/ DGX OS (Ubuntu Noble) |
| Outer Wilds | Windows x86 (via ProtonGE-10-17) | smooth, no notable performance issues (~20 minute test) | NVIDIA DGX Spark w/ DGX OS (Ubuntu Noble) |
| Half-Life 2 | Linux x86 | smooth, no notable performance issues | NVIDIA DGX Spark w/ DGX OS (Ubuntu Noble) |
| Portal 2 | Linux x86 | smooth, no notable performance issues | NVIDIA DGX Spark w/ DGX OS (Ubuntu Noble) |
| Garry’s Mod | Linux x86 | smooth, no notable performance issues | NVIDIA DGX Spark w/ DGX OS (Ubuntu Noble) |
| Hollow Knight Silksong | Windows x86 (via Proton) | Very smooth (~10 minute test) | NVIDIA DGX Spark w/ Ubuntu Questing |
| Clair Obscur Expedition 33 | Windows x86 (via Proton) | Playable (~10 minute test) | NVIDIA DGX Spark w/ Ubuntu Questing |
| Golf with your Friends | Linux x86 | 100+ FPS, smooth, no notable performance issues | NVIDIA DGX Spark w/ DGX OS (Ubuntu Noble) |
| PEAK | Windows x86 (via ProtonGE-10-17) | Was previously unstable, but is now stable across 3x ~10 minute tests after a recent game update when testing on 1/7/26. (but have not yet tested with multiple players). | NVIDIA DGX Spark w/ DGX OS (Ubuntu Noble) |
I unfortunately don't have any Arm hardware to test on, apart from an older Raspberry Pi 4.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
About the author - Liam Dawe
I am the owner of GamingOnLinux. After discovering Linux back in the days of Mandrake in 2003, I constantly checked 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.
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Quoting: StellaSnap needs to just die imo. Flatpak is the future! 😇While I agree that Snap needs to die, it's important to mention that Flatpak is also guilty of re-inventing the wheel. AppImages existed a whole 10 years before both Flatpak and Snap. They could've contributed to AppImage rather than reinventing the wheel and fragment the ecosystem.
0 Likes
phil995511 6 hours ago
Snaps = non-free (proprietary) file format belonging to Canonical
=> No thanks, I don't want it on my operating systems
I don't like using AppImage either, it's too cumbersome to use for launching applications and there's no built-in application update system.
The only format of this type that I occasionally use is Flatpak, and only if the package authors are known and verified, and their packages are therefore safe and secure.
Last edited by phil995511 on 11 Jan 2026 at 12:04 pm UTC
=> No thanks, I don't want it on my operating systems
I don't like using AppImage either, it's too cumbersome to use for launching applications and there's no built-in application update system.
The only format of this type that I occasionally use is Flatpak, and only if the package authors are known and verified, and their packages are therefore safe and secure.
Last edited by phil995511 on 11 Jan 2026 at 12:04 pm UTC
2 Likes
Quoting: phil995511Snaps = non-free (proprietary) file format belonging to CanonicalBut... you don't have snaps on your operating system? Unless you're using Ubuntu? So it's not "no thanks", it's literally "this doesn't affect me in any way". So why the negativity?
=> No thanks, I don't want it on my operating systems
And it's proprietary? So what? Or do you not use Steam, in which case, fine, I guess you're on Debian on the whole Richard Stallman philosophy, which is kind of admirable, but definitely not for me.
But hating on snaps because they're proprietary, and not hating on flatpaks where anyone can upload a dodgy flatpak to flathub feels really disingenuous to me. Even the fact that flatpak can be run from sources other than flathub... for 99.99% of flatpak users out there, that's irrelevant, because that's where flatpaks are hosted. It might as well be proprietary, because no-one is using it in any other way.
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Quoting: scaineI don't want to quote everything again, but it's a good comment.Quoting: phil995511Snaps = non-free (proprietary) file format belonging to CanonicalBut... you don't have snaps on your operating system? Unless you're using Ubuntu? So it's not "no thanks", it's literally "this doesn't affect me in any way". So why the negativity?
=> No thanks, I don't want it on my operating systems
I use (X)ubuntu and like the fact that I can use both Snap and Flatpak. It is also possible to switch Snap packages back to normal package management. I have already done this when there were problems with Snap packages (e.g. Firefox).
Of course, it's not the "canonical" idea to use Ubuntu and then remove Snap completely. In that case, it's better to use a different distribution.
And this freedom is what we love so much about Linux. Every person is different and has their own needs and preferences. And even as a long-time Linux user, you get a bit lazy with age. ;)
4 Likes
Quoting: rea987Yup, Firefox gargled by snap issue is what forced me to quit Ubuntu and migrate to Debian couple months ago. The issue might be fixed for the latest versions of Ubuntu but it still was there for 24.04 LTS release.I didn't have problems with snap Firefox startup on 24.04 LTS and I upgraded in October to Ubuntu 25.10 and it still starts fast.
Also when I installed Strawberry music player snap and started it for the first time, there was a warning popup that it might be slow (and so on) because it is installed as a snap package. It isn't packaged as snap by the developer of the program, but I am certain that the warning is from the developer. And gues what I can't tell a difference beetween the .deb install of Strawberry and the snap one.
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Mohandevir 4 hours ago
All that stuff about Steam and Arm got me thinking... SteamOS on rpi for light gaming and emulation purpose... Sounds like something I will be willing to try. 🤔
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Quoting: phil995511Snaps = non-free (proprietary) file format belonging to CanonicalThat's BS. But if it gives you the opportunity to complain about something you apparently not even use - why not? For others: Snap is ofc open source. What is proprietary is the backend for Snap distribution. But even so you could implement your very own backend.
Years ago Alan Pope explained the why:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8MgktKqjsU
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