this post was submitted on 16 Dec 2025
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Yup, I would have switched to SteamOS instead if it had easier installation process and proper device support. Then again Bazzite works tremendously well.
Apparently Valve thinks it’s still too early to have it under public spotlight.
I honestly don't know what they're thinking. They've been selling hardware with it pre-installed by the millions for years, so I'd call that very public spotlight. They're about to release 2 more new devices. And yet they still have dedicated seemingly no time to improving hardware compatibility or even using their own giant platform to advocate or advertise installing it anywhere else.
I don’t blame them. Optimising for a very specific HW is already enough work, providing “general” optimisations for a big variety of HW would result in basically what any other distribution can offer right now.
Yes, lots of distributions are already offering that. What's stopping Valve?
I’m trying to say… why should they bother to offer what other distributions already offer?
Because those other distributions aren't Valve. It's called brand recognition.
No it's called excessive costs and labor in the form of customer service and a degraded support experience for the end user.
What customer service are you referring to? People can already submit customer service concerns about SteamOS. Valve are not obligated to do anything about them. If anything there would be fewer of them because it would actually work.
What customer service do you think those other distributions are offering? What customer service do you think MS is offering?
Liability and expectations. You can sue Valve. You are unable to sue Bazzite, and they have no liability or warranties for any given release of their operating system.
Steam Support is held in high regard because they are willing to go above and beyond for customers prior. If something broke inside of a generic SteamOS installation completely outside of Valve's control, that would reflect badly on the staff and the brand.
You can sue anyone for anything.
SteamOS doesn't either.
It's already outside of Valve's control. They don't control the Linux kernel, they don't control KDE, they don't control any of the software on the device, including ones pre-installed or ones in the store. And they don't need to.
So they should do just another distro for the sake of making another distro instead of focusing on something that will put them above rest for gaming?
The way they do things now benefit all of Linux. The optimisations they do now are focused on very specific HW and with the amount of employees they have now I doubt they can focus on broad support while providing these kinds of specific optimisations. There is basically no need to install Steam OS on your machine… just get Bazzite.
Also what brand recognition? If you game on PC, you install Steam anyways.
No one is asking for another distro?
If the handful of volunteers at Bazzite can do it, I'm pretty sure the multi-billion dollar company can figure it out. They obviously don't want to for some reason.
Steam? The single most recognizable brand in PC gaming?
are you a bot?
Do I sound like a bot?
Yes. Everything you quoted was taken out of context
And you sound like someone who has nothing interesting left to say.
mutual, I’ve already explained my point of view
Cat fight!
They have a massive problem named NVIDIA. I would bet the world they are dragging their feet.
Doesn't seem to be a problem for Bazzite
Bazzite is a non-commercial product unaffiliated with any of the additional programs they install (such as the steam client and Nvidia drivers), and has no expectation of having support workers to assist users who will perform actions that would break their operating system. Additionally, Bazzite is not the face of the Valve brand (unlike SteamOS).
Because it's a community project without corporate backing or the expectations of an official product, they can get away with more risky implementations that Valve simply cannot. The Steam Deck had to be as idiot proof as possible, and one way that was made possible was through AMD's willingness to collaborate. NVIDIA, at least currently, does not appear willing to play ball.
SteamOS includes dozens of programs they're not affiliated with. What is that supposed to mean?
And Valve does? If you install SteamOS on your PC right now, do you think they're going to offer you support?
such as?
Okay? AMD collaborates with the developers of the Linux kernel as well. The Steam Deck is no more "idiot-proof" than any other piece of AMD hardware.
So what?
Whole lot of nonsense there.
As long as their software is compatible with their hardware, Valve likely doesn’t see much value in improving SteamOS at this point. Dev time is expensive, so it’s understandable they prioritise other things. However, I still hope SteamOS receives the resources it needs to become a serious competitor to Windows in gaming PCs.
The value is called money. More people running SteamOS = more money. That's why they made it.
Yes, but what’s the reason why SteamOS was designed to be that picky? My guess is, Valve wants everyone to buy their hardware. Making your OS run on anything isn’t really helping with that.
Valve does not care if you buy their hardware or not. They only care that you buy games on Steam. They're not making much (if any) money on the hardware. They made it to improve the gaming experience, to sell more games. They made it to deliver a console living room controller experience, and to deliver the best possible scenario for Steam OS.
Of course, they also made it to protect themselves from Microsoft.
Making your OS run on anything absolutely helps with that.
That would help with selling games, for sure. If that really is the main goal, SteamOS should receive some compatibility updates soon. We’ll see if that’s how they really operate.
Project scope. It makes more sense for them to make a distro that solves currently unsolved spaces directly related to their market (merging PC with handhelds, consoles, and VR). More scope either means more hours or more spread of the existing hours accros the added work.
They have been contributing alot back to upstream which does help Linux gaming in general alot.
I think so too. It makes sense to start with making it run on the hardware you have. Making it run nicely on other computers would require more time and money. Doing so can still make sense in the long run, but first you need to launch this new product, so better focus on short term goals.
Right. There is probably a certain point where other hardware support is just a happy accident or miniscule effort. Its just there yet for them though it is getting close!
They have been saying the contrary themselves. They don't care that much about selling hardware.
Are people paying for SteamOS? I thought the only revenue streams around it was the Steam Deck and soon the Steam Machine and the VR thing.
Largely it's a risk reduction thing for them. Otherwise their dependent on a monopolistic OS and their largely uninterested in collaboration competitor.
No, people pay for games using SteamOS.
Largely people pay for games regardless. From Steams perspective investing the store profits into Linux gaming is a market risk reducer and a cost center for producing viable hardware platforms.
Its not a revenue stream at the moment. If a million more people started running it tommorow on non-steam hardware and didn't adjust the game buying habits, it would be a net loss for Value, as their support costs would rise with no increase in revenue.
The best case for them is that it acts as a conduit for good PR, and user generated content for the platform (i.e. mods, apps, and of course FOSS merge requests).
Likely many more people would pay for games on Steam if SteamOS went mainstream. They could easily steal market share from the console market. New customer, not existing ones. It's about expanding their market.
The only thing special about their hardware is that they come pre-installed with SteamOS.
But they would. That's the point. I know I have.
There are no support costs.
You want them to release SteamOS and ignore all user feedback except for Steam hardware some how? Otherwise that's all cost. Or significant brand risk.
Tbh I'm not sure what the conversion rate to sales actually would be. The numbers of sold games on the steam machine vs the average machines rates will be a better indicator of that IMHO. The Steamdeck is biased in that showing the form factor support is also an important point for games on the deck.
I would rather them keep investing in the ecosystem then try to rush for growth and have to enshitify to keep it.
They already have...? They are under no obligation to offer support.
Who said anything about enshittification? Why can't they continue investing in the ecosystem, improve hardware support, and also not become shitty? They're a multi-billion dollar company.
The rapid growth model only makes sense for people looking for investors and the promise to snag a customer base once their hooked.
Value has a lot to lose but mostly margins to gain.
Listen I'm for keeping them pushing towards ethical contributions to the ecosystem, but I also entirely understand them not doing so just for charities sake alone.
Fair on the release part lol. I didn't know that, but I guess the ignore part is still an issue since people want them to get it to work with other hardware out of scope, or worse Nvidia
I don't know where you're getting this nonsense about a "rapid growth model". Improving hardware compatibility is absolutely not going to lead to rapid growth.
Why should they do it again?
And it's only really been released on 2 specific hardware configurations.
If you try to install SteamOS onto a custom built computer, you can get it to mostly work on an all-AMD build, assuming you're fine with not having printer drivers. But if you have an Nvidia GPU you'll be lucky if it gets past the bootloader.
That's why Valve hasn't released SteamOS fully
Okay, but that doesn't answer anything, because the question is: why doesn't it work? It's been that way since the beginning. The vast majority of Linux distros can be installed on just about any hardware, including the SteamOS simulators that are functionally indifferent, like Bazzite, Cachy, Chimera, Nobara, etc.
ChimeraOS has exactly the same support issue as Steam OS
Not in my experience
@Ulrich @mnemonicmonkeys
Imho: It's a question of support ... all the named distribution are a community effort in support.
Valve can't and probably won't try to put themself in a situation where they "must" deliver support outside of well know hardware combinations.
Improving hardware support does not in any way suddenly make them liable for providing support more than they already are. If I go and install SteamOS on my PC right now (lots of systems do work already), that doesn't suddenly obligate Valve to provide me with software support on my hardware.
@Ulrich
I totally agree but not all users will see it the same way ;) You see how often people feel entitled to get some help :)
I would go even further -> if valve supports more hardware and opens up steamos for none business partners ( aka end users ) .. the press might pressure them into things they don't want.
Doesn't matter how they feel. They're still not entitled. People might "feel" the same way about Windows but they're not obligated to provide support there either.
I've been using Bazzite for about two months now and it's great how well it works right out of the box with Steam and Heroic Launcher (GOG, EGS, and Amazon).
My one gripe is how difficult it is to get anything that's not on one of those stores to work. I had a really hard time getting Battle.net games to work, although I finally persevered. I gave up trying to get a mobile game running in a VM (I think this one was due to my graphics card not being supported by Waydroid) and I also gave up on Minecraft Bedrock edition (my friend has a server there and it doesn't have cross play with Java edition).
I fear that the moment I really want to play a game that isn't on one of those 4 stores, I'm going to cave and go back to Windows. Trying to stay strong ✊😔