this post was submitted on 29 Oct 2025
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Linux Gaming

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Nearly 90% of Windows Games now run on Linux, latest data shows — as Windows 10 dies, gaming on Linux is more viable than ever (www.tomshardware.com)
submitted 6 days ago by cm0002@lemmings.world to c/linux_gaming@lemmy.world
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[–] GottaHaveFaith@fedia.io 37 points 6 days ago (2 children)

Happy Linux player. I play mostly single player so I don't have many issues. For anyone thinking about switching

  • if your games are on steam it's really easy to run them and most of the times you just have to install them and press play
  • if a game is new you may need to switch it to a newer version of Proton while the main one gets updated. It takes 2 clicks to open the compatibility settings tab and then you can select the version
  • if a game needs a custom setting to run you'll probably read it on protondb and it takes 2 clicks to add it
  • go on protondb and log with your steam account to check how many of your games are compatible, gold or platinum means it's good
  • compatibility gets better every week
  • mods may be harder to install
  • Linux is easy to use
  • Nvidia cards works well on Linux
  • yes, sometimes you may break it but you can also fix it. The official windows forum is a graveyard full of "you have to reinstall windows"
  • you can try Linux without installing it (but don't use it for gaming or stuff that need reboots because live install lose changes)
  • dual boot works so you don't need to drop windows immediately

This is my protondb compatibility tab for around 1600 games

https://ibb.co/xK2x3nR7

[–] DaedalousIlios@pawb.social 3 points 5 days ago

I would like to add:

If your game isn't on Steam, but is on any other popular (or infamous) launcher, odds are it's also on Lutris with an install script to get it working. Lutris is on Flathub and is officially maintained by the Lutris team so it is available regardless of your Distro.

Lutris is also a good way to install any F2P games that are not on Steam or that you don't want to rely on Steam for.

Happy gaming!

[–] hanrahan@piefed.social 2 points 5 days ago

dual boot works so you don't need to drop windows immediately

Windows can break GRUB, so be aware.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/windows-update-breaks-linux-dual-boot-but-there-is-a-fix-for-some-users/

[–] circuitfarmer@lemmy.world 18 points 6 days ago (1 children)

I've not looked back in 3+ years.

But I really wonder how many of these same articles we need before more significant numbers of people actually ditch Windows. It saves you money. It saves you time. Many Windows games run better on Linux. And yet, the market share increase is a steady trickle rather than a deluge.

[–] Die4Ever@retrolemmy.com 7 points 6 days ago (1 children)

I'm curious to see the Steam hardware survey how many people switched this month due to the Win10 EoL

[–] The_Picard_Maneuver@piefed.world 2 points 5 days ago

I'm doing my part.

[–] The_Picard_Maneuver@piefed.world 11 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Gaming was the missing piece for me for years, and I'm happily gaming on Linux now with little to no hassle.

The biggest annoyance I've faced is that discord isn't auto-detecting some games when streaming to friends, which is such a minor thing.

[–] orize@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 5 days ago

Try Vesktop

[–] goatinspace@feddit.org 9 points 6 days ago

collapsed inline media

[–] JPSound@lemmy.world 7 points 5 days ago (1 children)

I switch to Linux 2 days ago and have been enjoying testing my Steam library. So far, everything Ive tested run BETTER in Mint than they did on Win10. Im currently waiting on BG3's massive 120GB download to complete but I'm looking forward to finally booting it up again.

The Linux community has been so friggin helpful in getting me up and going.

[–] pewgar_seemsimandroid@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 5 days ago (1 children)

which Desktop environment did you choose?

cinnamon mate xfce

[–] JPSound@lemmy.world 1 points 5 days ago (2 children)

I went with Mint. I've read it's the easiest for beginners. Once I learn more about this new environment, I may experiment with others. I have 3 1T drives in my PC and I have one dedicated for that process whenever I get to that point. Thats the idea anyways.

[–] pewgar_seemsimandroid@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 4 days ago

im assuming you chose the cinnamon option when installing the mint iso. i also did.

[–] DegenerationIP@lemmy.world 1 points 5 days ago

Yeah. Mint uses cinnamon. Good to have that Name in Your head :)

[–] paraphrand@lemmy.world 7 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (2 children)

No percentage is good enough for PCMR. Long live Microsoft’s Master Race!

(I’m being ironic, obviously.)

[–] FauxLiving@lemmy.world 1 points 6 days ago

Only go to Reddit if you want to read outrage-based contrarianism (now with AI!)

[–] meldrik@lemmy.wtf 1 points 6 days ago

When you think about the essence of PCMR, you are not truly part of PCMR if you are on Windows.

[–] germanatlas@lemmy.blahaj.zone 7 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (2 children)

I'm fully Linux for two years now, have played ~140 games and had a total of 2 major issues and 2 minor issues with games:

  • Cyberpunk 2077 (at least before the 2.0 update) crashed frequently because of a called function that the nvidia gpu driver couldn’t handle. Since I switched to AMD this has been resolved and I had no issue whatsoever, even modded
  • Minecraft has a memory freeing issue when using an AMD GPU (kinda ironic) which causes the game to crash every 3-5 hours or so. This is resolved by either restarting the game gracefully every few hours or not being an addict
  • I couldn’t get achievements to log for Return to Moria on any proton version I had. Kind of silly problem but I’m an achievement hunter so it still annoys me
  • the windows version of fear and hunger via proton runs better than the native Linux version, especially on steam deck. It’s weird but I don’t make the rules
[–] wildsir@lemmy.zip 2 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Damn, that Minecraft issue sucks. Have you tried using launchers, different Java versions, and performance mods? I’m on AMD GPU and I have no issues with Minecraft on Prism launcher. Prob better performance than Windows, but I never had it to compare

[–] germanatlas@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 5 days ago

I only used native Minecraft and the normal Minecraft launcher, idk this issue might’ve been resolved

[–] DaedalousIlios@pawb.social 2 points 5 days ago

A lot of dev companies treat their native Linux versions like an afterthought, if they don't outright outsource the project to a 3rd party. That's why the Proton version typically works better if the title isn't Indie. If an Indie dev makes the port, it's probably alright.

Admittedly, I think this is one thing about Linux gaming that Proton will make worse, now that devs can just test the game in Proton and not even bother with a native Linux version. I don't foresee that changing unless Linux somehow becomes the overwhelming majority OS, and while I think it will take a good chunk of market share in the coming years, I don't foresee it becoming the overwhelming majority for some time.

[–] Honytawk@feddit.nl 7 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (2 children)

Currently on Steam:

19338 games are compatible with Linux and SteamOS

While there are 145462 games on Steam

Which only translates to 13,3% of games on Steam being compatible with Linux.

It is better than before, but where the fuck do they get 90% from?

[–] eltoukan@jlai.lu 8 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

the first paragraph has a link to a protondb dashboard:

https://www.protondb.com/dashboard

pretty cool visualisation, though it's not obvious where they get the 90% for me either. But for example if you take the Top 1000 games, 89% of them either have a plat, gold or silver medal, which sounds quite equivalent to "works on Linux". There is an "all steam games" option, but the issue is that most games haven't had any feedback from anyone on protondb

edit: the stat comes from the second link https://boilingsteam.com/windows-games-compatibility-on-linux-is-at-a-all-time-high/ which uses as a sample all of the steam games rated on protondb

[–] julysfire@lemmy.world 7 points 5 days ago

Iirc correctly, those are just the Linux native ones. A game doesn't have to be native to play just fine on Linux though.

[–] Quazatron@lemmy.world 6 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

I've been gaming in Linux since the days Unreal Tournament had a Linux version, or even before that.

The only game I want to play that still doesn't work is Heretic II, which probably is based on some cursed DX9 engine or something.

Newer games I don't even bother to check before buying, they just work.

Edit: Hexen, not Heretic.

[–] Baggie@lemmy.zip 5 points 5 days ago

I ran a fresh win 10 vm to debug an RGB mic, and it was surprisingly how much garbage it shoves on you on a fresh install. ads, OneDrive, bunch of crap. Linux by comparison is much nicer to deal with.

[–] DegenerationIP@lemmy.world 2 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (1 children)

Not Just gaming. On Windows would have to restart when I wanted to Print Something. I have 0 Idea why. Linux. Didn't even need to do anything. Pronter recognized in an Instant and printing like No tomorrow.

Screw Microsoft.

Edit: its Just a simple example. OFC Theres more that I won't miss.

[–] Bennyboybumberchums@lemmy.world -1 points 5 days ago

On Windows would have to restart when I wanted to Print Something.

Im no lover of Windows, but this one is 100% on you, bro beans.