Great article and also outlines why I’m not switching today. I already have to deal with plenty of shit during my work hours, gaming is a way for me to relax and wind down. I don’t want to think or deal with a sub optimal gaming experience, to then have to bug fix in my spare time.
You can say all the negative stuff you want about Windows, but it does run games well. The moment I can expect to have the same experience on Linux, I will switch, it’s that simple.
That’s fair. I feel like it’s well worth it, but I do get a kick out of bug fixing and tinkering too.
Honestly this is already my daily experience with Windows : having to figure out why my controller doesn’t work on a small selection of games when it’s in wireless mode, having to install a third-party patch to run a game in an exotic definition, fix a game not launching on the right monitor even though it’s set as main display, installing a mod just to bring controller support to a game that lacks it, etc etc. and I could go on all day. Personally my Windows gaming experience has been sub-par for years now, looking forward to switching (again) later this year.
From the article
gaming on Linux has come a long way in the past few years, and I can confidently say that Linux is ready for mainstream gaming in 2025.
So the writer concludes it works
At this point Linux and Windows are more like Xbox and PlayStation back in the the 2000’s, except Linux has a compatibility layer to allow it to run a lot of Windows games.
Yes.
I was having some issues when I updated to Nobara 41 as Hell Divers 2 failed to load in the textures. So it still has hiccups.
Hell Divers 2 has had a rocky relationship with Linux from the get go. Hopefully, as Linux gains market share, game studios start to include Linux testing.
At least I have a steam deck to play it on as that tends to be more optimized for games.
helldivers 2 works great for me with nixos. Both native package and flatpak.
I don’t play it, but I remember that with each update, it sometimes broke for Linux, and sometimes it would fix the breaks. That was especially true closer to launch, though maybe some of those issues have been ironed out.
Are you using a Nix config you found, or is it something you cobbled together yourself? Gaming on Nix seems like a challenge!
Been using nix to game on for 2 years. My config is a bit out of date, I haven’t really taken the time to update and optimize it.
Get VR working without having to compile from source and it will be
Steam VR mostly works. It’s one of the areas that takes a massive stinky performance hit, and there is no motion smoothing yet (somehow), but it does work. I’ve put thousands of hours into vrchat in it, played through all of Alyx, etc. all on Linux.
I recently switched my VR PC from Windows to Bazzite. No compiling necessary.
I played through HL Alyx on a baremetal PopOS! system and Valve Index, with no need to compile a kernel from source … in 2022.
With how long VR has been around, I can still count on one hand the number of people I know that have an entry level Quest, let alone good VR gear. For that reason, I dunno if I’d include VR in the definition of mainstream.
If you package it, they will come
A lot of people use Quest standalone, but the PC VR experience is much, much better if it can be setup right. Eliminating the major issues that hold it back from working would make a big difference.
That and a whole smorgasboard of Windows MR headsets will be useless bargain bin items soon, as Microsoft is pulling support for those headsets entirely, and I know the linux community has added support for Windows MR in Linux. They’re not bad headsets, and being super cheap would let a lot of people try out VR, even if the experience is a bit behind compared to the modern headsets (Index, Quest 3, etc.)
I know what you’re saying, and i kinda agree, but even including Windows, the share of VR users is still small, and that’s making use of drivers that generally work ootb. VR just isn’t as popular (yet?).
I didn’t know about Microsoft pulling away from MR. I would love to have a MR headset, so I’ll have to keep an eye out. Thanks!
About two years ago, Microsoft axed the entire MR devteam, and a few months back announced they will remove MR entirely in a future update to Windows.
I once had a Samsung Odyssey (not the +), and while the Quest 2 has a better screen resolution and much better controller tracking (and the 3 improves on both again), the Samsung’s OLED displays have way better contrast ratios, which makes it much better when running games that have dark scenes.
Its not mainstream. probably never be mainstream… Just like 3d TVs.
Its a rich mans hobby.
the only reason the quest is “cheap” in comparison is because its facebook and when it comes to facebook… you will always be the product. Its sold to you “cheap” compared to others, because they make that back and more on harvesting and selling the data they collect from you using it.
overwhelming majority of gamers use gaming to escape and relax. Jumping around a room exhausting yourself is kind of the antithesis to that.
Jumping around a room exhausting yourself is kind of the antithesis to that.
A coworker said he watches movies and stuff more than playing games, partly because of this. He was clear that he has VR games, but the required physical movement is sometimes not what he wants, and there’s the issue of lag-induced motion sickness besides.
Yep
There are people that want to interact with the movie, like those rocky horror special showings.
but the vast majority of people just want to sit back, relax, and enjoy.
Which is half the reason why VR will be a minority of gaming, and not mainstream. the other half, of course, being the insane costs.
In addition to what others have said… It is?
I can plug in my index, open steam, and run VR games, just fine.
My HP Reverb G2 V2 isn’t.
What’s your point?
That microsoft didn’t enable the necessary software components to run windows mixed reality HMDs on linux?
The reverbs never natively supported any open standards like SteamVR or OpenXR.
WMR headsets are the ones that have been the hardest to get going with open VR systems like Monado, but that doesn’t mean that hardware that implemented sane standards isn’t already working great, which it is.
That said, WMR is partially working at this time.
Bottom line, if you use something that is actually supposed to work, it does. If you don’t, then yeah, the volunteer-created hacks to get things to work are still in progress.
What’s your point?
“Get VR working and it will be.”
“It is!”
“No, it is for your specific hardware and use case.”
That microsoft didn’t enable the necessary software components to run windows mixed reality HMDs on linux?
No - that’s a given. It’s that nobody has working third party software for my hardware yet, hence the “VR isn’t ready on Linux yet” statement.
The reverbs never natively supported any open standards like SteamVR or OpenXR.
I know.
WMR headsets are the ones that have been the hardest to get going with open VR systems like Monado, but that doesn’t mean that hardware that implemented sane standards isn’t already working great, which it is.
I know.
That said, WMR is partially working at this time.
I know.
Bottom line, if you use something that is actually supposed to work, it does. If you don’t, then yeah, the volunteer-created hacks to get things to work are still in progress.
I know.
My VR hardware is still not working, and Linux is clearly not “VR ready”.
By that logic android doesn’t work because you can’t use it on a iPhone.
Android doesn’t pride itself on its incredible hardware compatibility to the same extent that Linux does.
I realize that I am in no way entitled to other people’s labor to get WMR working on Linux, of course, but until this significant category of VR headsets does work on Linux, it is not VR ready.
And that justifies the double standard?
Who decided this is where the goalpost is, except for you?
Counter point: VR is working. It’s not working for your specific hardware and use case.
My Oculus Dev Kit 1 and 2 don’t work properly on Windows anymore. Does that mean Windows isn’t ready for gaming because my specific VR hardware doesn’t work on it? Or does it mean that “VR ready” doesn’t have to include every VR headset.
Counter-counter point: some VR is working. It’s not working for a significant portion of VR hardware, so it is not VR ready.
Windows isn’t ready for much of anything these days, so I’m not really sure why you’re trying to make that comparison with Linux, an OS that prides itself on openness and getting an insane variety of hardware working on it.
I agree that “VR ready” doesn’t have to include every single headset, but that’s pretty disingenuous when a significant number of VR headsets use(d) WMR. Linux will not be VR ready until WMR is working.
The number of different branded headsets using WMR doesn’t make it significant in any way. Based on Steam hardware survey, WMR headsets only account for 2.84% of VR headsets. Index, Quest 2, Quest 3 account for ~70% of VR headsets in use, and they all work on Linux. Index just naturally in SteamVR and it’s my understanding that setting up ALVR for the quest ones isn’t that tricky (but I’ve also never tried). And much of the remaining 30% other headsets work with ALVR too.
And the point of comparing things to Windows, is that if we’re stating “Linux isn’t ready for gaming because not every VR headset works”, then by that definition Windows isn’t either. Which you probably agree with, but generally speaking “people” / society view Windows as ready for gaming despite it not supporting every headset.
It’s basically getting into the “Fortnite doesn’t work on Linux” type of situation now. Some things are just never going to work, and it’s because of the creator of those things and not Linux itself, and who cares. Even if the things that don’t work are popular, that doesn’t mean that on the whole, the OS isn’t ready.
Also, according to steam only 1.9% of accounts have a VR headset. That alone makes VR an edge case. but 2.84% of 1.9% is 0.05% of overall steam accounts using WMR. I think Linux can be ready for gaming without WMR support.
it doesn’t work on windows anymore either
Then I’m really confused about how I was playing Beat Saber on my Windows partition last night.
Also, I’m not sure “it doesn’t work on Windows” is the standard the Linux community should be trying to live up to. My old laptop doesn’t work on Windows 10 or 11, but it runs modern Linux just fine.
Unless you’re just playing dumb, you should be aware that it has been removed from Windows 11. You can hold back the update for now at least (or stay on Windows 10).
Anyway Monado is coming along nicely, but unless Valve and the other companies they are involved in it start throwing more devs at it, there’s not much more that can be done.
VR is not mainstream gaming.
VR is a minority of a minority of a minority of gaming.
Unless your using something like a Pimax its there. Have a look at Envision. You can install it from the AUR or a appimage from git both allow you to avoid having to compile from source. Envision allows you to use Monado if you have a wired headset or WiVRn if you have a quest or other wireless headset and can also install WlxOverlay or Stardust as overlays.
This page has whats compatible with what headsets https://lvra.gitlab.io/docs/hardware/
The majority of problems Linux has with gaming are intentional decisions on the part of the studios at this point.
I keep what I think is a pretty healthy gaming diet, which tends to steer me away from the megacorporate shit and into smaller studios and indies, and games just tend to run.
Even AAA games are fine, as long as they don’t have intrusive anticheat. If you’re after SP, non-VR gaming, Linux is ready today. If you want VR, you need to be more flexible with headsets. If you want MP, you need to be really flexible since devs intentionally block Linux for whatever reason.
I can install and play pretty much any single player game I want, even new releases, and I am confident I will be able to play it with no significant/noticable issue… and on the offchance there is one, it will most assuredly be fixed within a couple days with a proton update… and honestly its been like 2 years since that last happened to me.
The only time I even have to think about installing a game, and thus have to check protondb, is when I want to install an MMO or Multiplayer game…and a shocking amount of those work, too. Just not all of them, because of invasive anticheat.
Meh. Most games, I’d say. Couldn’t get Cyberpunk 2077 to run on Mint.
--launcher-skipshould fix it, according to ProtonDB.I looked on protondb of course. The issue isn’t the launcher, it does boot into the menu and freezes once I load a game.
Ok, then it’s probably some kind of system resource setting or something. I had an issue with Hogwarts Legacy freezing after an hour or two, and it was fixed by this setting change. Maybe that or a similar tweak is all you need. Or maybe just a GPU driver update.
I haven’t tried that game, but I will say most of the games I’ve tried work fine without any tweaks.
I love that you tried to help though. Thanks anyway.
I don’t think you need to be super flexible with Multiplayer as long as they aren’t competitive games. Here’s some multiplayer games I’ve played flawlessly in the last 12 months: Baldur’s Gate III, Webfishing, Deep Rock Galactic, Atlyss and Stardew Valley. It really depends on the genre I think.
I’d say the peripheral situation could be better too, such as sim racing gear. Logitech support is solid and looks decent with Fanatec at least, but there’s a lot of options out there that are unlikely to have good Linux support.
I tested out Monado recently with the Reverb G2 and it’s coming along nicely. It’s definitely not ready yet, but hopefully it will be within a few years.
Pretty much, yeah. Only thing not 100% yet are some of the more obscure peripherals. Example: Eye and head tracking. While sticks can and do work in Linux, it would be nice if VKB, Virpil, etc had native Linux calibration tools.
This illustration is triggering me
Why is the penguin holding it like that??
maybe its ai slop
Have you tried to play with one without thumbs?
I will test this theory and report back
because the pinguin is the linux gaming pc handing you the controler
Nice!
Gamers on Linux have minimal setup overhead.*
*as long as you stick with Steam. Anything else means going to Lutris, Heroic Games Launcher, etc which is far more hit or miss.
Added the missing qualifier to one of the articles bullet points for them.
In my experience running non-steam games through steam with proton is the best way to play those games too. The only time I’ve ever had to use lutris was when I had to install some DLC for a GOG application on the same prefix as the game because it had a separate exe installer for that DLC. I haven’t been able to figure out a way to do that through steam. But once I got that done I just ran the game through steam and it worked perfectly. The heroic games launcher gets suggested a lot too but I literally have never been able to get it to work for a single game.
Considering a majority of people use Nvidia on their desktops, they’ll be forced to jump through hoops with stuff as minor as setting their desktop session to X instead of Wayland (which is absolutely not ready) to installing a custom vaapi package to get hardware accelerated video playback in Firefox. With games and Nvidia say goodbye to a chunk of DX12 performance Then you have the majority of laptop users that have intel HD graphics laptops, ones made in the past 10 years will be fine for low end stuff, but they will take a hit because i915 shits itself with DX12 games and the new xe driver that handles it better is very new and only available on iGPUs made in the last 3 years or so? It is really only good if you have an AMD GPU which has absolutely pitiful market share, with the Steam Deck probably being the most popular AMD PC device people own.
No.
This is the same horse-shit conversation that’s been going on since like 96.
Want to prove somebody is a tech fraud? Listen to them rec *nix for anything but what it’s good at.
This is specific to gaming, which it does great at. I’ve been running Ubuntu since late 2023 with no issues.
What will itsfoss.com say? I’m on the edge of my seat
Yes
I’ve been gaming soley on linux since 2020 or 2021.
Yeah, its definitely ready now, most straggler games are basically massively overproduced and massively MTX exploitative team based shooters using kernel level anti cheat that are designed for children with mom’s credit card.
So what you are saying is “no, linux doesn’t let you play the games you want to play, especially the extremely popular ones”.
You can play most of the games you want to play, with the main caveats being VR and anti-cheat. If it’s SP and on a regular screen, it’ll probably work.
