Ars Technica2d ago
Games run faster on SteamOS than Windows 11, Ars testing finds
Lenovo Legion Go S gets better frame rates running Valve's free operating system.
https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2025/06/games-run-faster-on-steamos-than-windows-11-ars-testing-finds/?utm_brand=arstechnica&utm_social-type=owned&utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social
Show threadNazo

@arstechnica Ehhhhh... Proton is hit and miss and native compatibility even more so.

Some stuff will do better. Some stuff will do worse. A lot of stuff is basically indiscernible.

I don't think we should focus on promising it will be better because with some people's luck it may just be the game they care about most that decides to run badly. Just make it clearer to people that pretty much every game is at least playable and no *nix distro (not even Valve's) will ever be as bad as Windows 10 or 11 for privacy. Even if a particular favorite game might yield a lower FPS it would still be worth it just to get away from the dystopian villain Microsoft became.

It's also a good thing to remember that installers set up a dual boot automatically if Windows is present. They can ease off.

Jun 25 at 8:44pmWeb
Show threadEmory21h ago
@nazokiyoubinbou @arstechnica for me on a steamdeck with identical flash windows 11 vs steam OS baldurs gate 3 was better in apperance and performance on windows 11 but using the steamdeck's controller is so g-ddammned agonizing under windows 11 that i refused to learn if any other game was similar. i just made peace with not playing #destiny2 on my steamdeck because it can't run the anticheat or whatever without getting yet another hobby i don't want: hacking windows device drivers GROSS
Show threadNazo21h ago

@emory @arstechnica Not sure what anti-cheat it has, but Heroic Games Launcher has a couple of toggles for Easy Anticheat and BattlEye if that helps any.

But yeah, I don't think it's good to tell people "hey switch and you'll get 5 fps more!" Rather "hey switch and most of your stuff will work fine but more importantly, Microsoft won't be watching every single thing you do and feeding it all into their LLM whether you want them to or not."

Show threadEmory21h ago
@nazokiyoubinbou @arstechnica honestly for me it's a much better argument to make about the controller support. especially on valve hardware. my g-d it was agony. at one point i was using a dual sense controller to my fscking steamdeck. embarassing. and i didn't know about Heroic Launcher and Steam doesn't tell me that either so if i still had a steamdeck i'd be all over that cuz it's bsttlEye i believe. i had to disable a kernel flag for windows 11 to run it. assholes.
Show threadNazo20h ago

@emory @arstechnica I mean not everyone has a Steamdeck. Linux is good for any kind of computer of every level. Whether low end or high end or anywhere in between. I don't think it's right to focus on any one thing even. It's about the whole.

And the anticheat crap is going too far and really IMO it should be more of a matter of everyone telling them straight up: no. If a game has kernel-level anti-cheats, just say no. I guess you could try playing it through Heroic if you dare though.

I've heard that Heroic Games Launcher is supposed to work really well on the Steamdeck. I can't verify because I don't have one. If nothing else, it's great for managing anything you might want to run on there that isn't in Steam.

Show threadEmory20h ago
@nazokiyoubinbou @arstechnica fair enough, linux isn't my first pick for a lot of things but is for just as many i guess! but steamOS-on-all-the-things is a novel concept and with things like bazzite available for gaming systems there's a lot to love and again at least controllers will work reliably under linux.
Show threadNazo20h ago
@emory @arstechnica I think it's very very important to consider getting away from the corporations on this. Microsoft and Apple are making it clearer and clearer that they really don't care what their users may want. They're going to do what has the most profit. Apple used to at least look at the long term rather than only the short, but the "pretend LLMs are AI and will change the future even though they aren't and won't" craze has even them seeing dollar signs.