Open Gaming Collective (OGC) formed to push Linux gaming even further

An exciting new announcement is the formation of the Open Gaming Collective, a collaborative organisation between many names in the Linux sphere.

This working group pulls together the likes of Bazzite & Universal Blue, ASUS Linux, ShadowBlip, PikaOS, Fyra Labs along with ChimeraOS, Nobara and Playtron. Their mission? From the new website:

For too long, the Linux gaming ecosystem has been fragmented. Individual distributions have spent countless hours duplicating efforts on kernel patches, input tooling, and essential packages. The OGC changes the game by centralizing efforts around critical components like gamescope and hardware drivers.

An announcement for this was posted up on the official Bazzite forum, with Bazzite founder Kyle Gospodnetich mentioning:

The Open Gaming Collective (OGC) is a collaborative organization bringing together key projects in Linux gaming, including ChimeraOS, Nobara, Playtron, Ultramarine & Fyra Labs, PikaOS, ShadowBlip, ASUS Linux, us here at Bazzite under Universal Blue, and more partners to be announced soon.

The goal of the OGC is to centralize efforts around critical components like kernel patches, input tooling, and essential gaming packages such as gamescope. Instead of each distro maintaining separate patches and fragmented hardware support, improvements can now be shared across the entire ecosystem. In short: a win for one project becomes a win for everyone.

The OGC’s kernel efforts operate on an upstream-first approach, meaning all patches shipped by the OGC will be at least in review for eventual inclusion into the Linux kernel.

This means better hardware compatibility, fewer duplicated efforts, and a more unified Linux gaming experience for everyone.

A similar announcement was also posted up on the Fyra Labs blog.

For those just joining us - Bazzite is a version of Linux (just don't call it a distro…) specifically designed to making a great gaming experience for desktops and handhelds. Many people use it as an alternative to SteamOS on various devices, I also personally use Bazzite on my Legion Go and it's great!

This news all sounds quite exiting, and it's nice to see some Linux developers determined not to keep reinventing the wheel and actually come together for the greater good. We have so many projects doing the same thing just a bit different - so this sounds overall really great. Pooled resources to make Linux better for everyone.

Part of this includes some changes for Bazzite outlined by Gospodnetich in the forum post:

• HHD will receive no further updates and will be phased out in favor of InputPlumber, the same input framework used by SteamOS, ChimeraOS, Nobara, Playtron GameOS, Manjaro Handheld Edition, and CachyOS Handheld Edition.

  • Features you rely on (Such as RGB and fan control) will be integrated into the Steam UI, while features not supported by the Steam UI will receive a clean, streamlined overlay similar to the current HHD experience.
    • Don’t worry, if your specific hardware needs to stay on older libraries a little longer our rollback and pin system has you covered. We’ll be triaging issues as they appear.

• Bazzite will adopt the OGC kernel, ensuring continued support for features like secure boot, expanded controller support, steering wheel support, and more; all maintained collaboratively within the shared kernel project.

Gospodnetich also mentioned they'll be "sharing patches we’ve made to various Valve packages with the OGC and attempting to upstream everything we can".

The Bazzite team are also testing replacing Lutris with Faugus Launcher, a newer game launcher but they said they will provide "at least six months of advance notice" if they decide to make it the default.