Gaming on Linux: Which Games Work, and Which Ones Don’t
Most games run on Linux – the limit is almost always anti-cheat. Gaming on Linux today runs through Proton, a compatibility layer from Valve that launches Windows games right inside Steam; on the Steam Deck alone, Valve lists more than 30,000 games as playable or verified. Still, check your games before you switch: titles like Valorant, Fortnite or Call of Duty don’t run, and it isn’t just down to technology.
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How Windows games run on Linux
Steam is available for Linux, and Proton is built in – it’s the same technology that powers the Steam Deck. For games Valve has tested, Proton is on automatically. For everything else, switch it on once: Steam → Settings → Compatibility → Enable Steam Play for all other titles, then restart Steam. From then on, you install and launch Windows games as usual.
If a game misbehaves, a different Proton version often helps. In the game’s properties under Compatibility, pick Proton Experimental, for example; the community build “Proton-GE” is also popular and installs with the ProtonUp-Qt app.
Anti-cheat: these games don’t run
Not all anti-cheat is the same. Kernel-level anti-cheat like Riot’s Vanguard, Ricochet in Call of Duty or EA’s Javelin hooks deep into the Windows kernel – there’s no such thing on Linux, so these games simply don’t run. Easy Anti-Cheat and BattlEye, on the other hand, have a Linux mode, but the developer has to switch it on for each game. That’s why some games with the same protection run and others don’t.
Of the roughly 1,170 games with anti-cheat tracked by Are We Anti-Cheat Yet?, about 470 run on Linux – around 40 percent. These popular games aren’t among them:
| Game | Protection | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Valorant | Vanguard (kernel) | blocked by Riot |
| League of Legends | Vanguard (kernel) | blocked by Riot since 2024 |
| Fortnite | Easy Anti-Cheat | not enabled by Epic |
| Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, Black Ops 7, Warzone | Ricochet (kernel) | doesn’t run |
| Battlefield 6 and REDSEC | Javelin (kernel) | blocked by EA, requires Secure Boot |
| Apex Legends | Easy Anti-Cheat | disabled by EA in October 2024 |
| GTA Online | BattlEye | blocked by Rockstar since September 2024 |
| Rainbow Six Siege | BattlEye | blocked by Ubisoft |
| PUBG: Battlegrounds | BattlEye and others | doesn’t run |
| Destiny 2 | BattlEye | blocked by Bungie |
| Rust | Easy Anti-Cheat | blocked by Facepunch |
| EA Sports FC | Javelin (kernel) | doesn’t run |
| Roblox | Hyperion | blocked by Roblox |
| FACEIT, e.g. for Counter-Strike 2 | FACEIT (kernel) | doesn’t run – CS2 itself does |
Plenty of other online games do work, some officially supported by their developers: Counter-Strike 2, Overwatch 2, Elden Ring, Dead by Daylight, The Finals, Hunt: Showdown 1896, Sea of Thieves, Halo Infinite, DayZ and Warframe. Without official support but reported as working are Marvel Rivals, ARC Raiders and Helldivers 2, among others. Any update can change this – for online games, check before you buy.
How to check your own games
Three sources give you a reliable answer for almost any game:
- ProtonDB collects player reports and uses five tiers: Platinum runs out of the box, Gold after a small tweak, Silver with minor issues, Bronze with frequent problems, and Borked won’t start. Look at the newest reports – older ones are often outdated.
- The Steam Deck badge on a game’s Steam page: Verified and Playable are good signs, since the Steam Deck itself runs Linux. Unsupported doesn’t necessarily mean the game won’t run on a PC – often it’s only about handheld controls.
- Are We Anti-Cheat Yet? for any online game with anti-cheat – it also shows whether a developer explicitly blocks Linux.
Epic, EA, Ubisoft, Battle.net and Game Pass
Not every game comes from Steam. For the other stores, there are apps that handle the setup for you:
- Epic Games, GOG and Amazon: The Heroic Games Launcher signs in to all three and installs your games just like their own launchers would.
- EA app, Ubisoft Connect and Battle.net: Lutris installs the launcher for you; you sign in there and download your games. EA and Ubisoft games bought on Steam bring their launcher along anyway.
- PC Game Pass: Games from the Xbox app don’t run on Linux. Many of them are playable in the browser through Xbox Cloud Gaming, though.
- Minecraft: The Java Edition is available for Linux directly.
Nvidia, AMD or Intel
With AMD and Intel, the graphics driver is open source and already built into every distribution – nothing to set up, which is why AMD is considered the easiest route on Linux. Nvidia needs the proprietary driver but runs just as well with it, and for several driver generations now on Wayland too. How much work the installation takes depends on the distro: on Bazzite and CachyOS the driver is there right away, on Mint it takes a few clicks. The distro comparison has the overview.
Handhelds
The Steam Deck ships with SteamOS, which is Linux. For the ROG Ally, Legion Go and similar Windows handhelds, Bazzite is the obvious choice: its Deck edition boots straight into a game mode like on the Steam Deck.
If your game isn’t on the list
If one of your main games doesn’t run, you don’t have to give up on Linux: install it next to Windows and choose at startup. The guide explains how under dual boot. And keep an eye on the list – according to a job listing, EA is hiring people to bring Javelin to Linux. Nothing is promised, but things are moving.
The Linux quiz shows you in three minutes where your whole setup might run into trouble.
Frequently asked questions
Most of them, yes. Steam launches them through Proton, often without any setup – on the Steam Deck alone, Valve lists more than 30,000 games as playable or verified. The main limit is anti-cheat: games like Valorant, Fortnite or Call of Duty don’t run on Linux.
For two different reasons. Valorant’s Vanguard anti-cheat needs a driver deep inside the Windows kernel, and there’s no Linux version of it. Fortnite uses Easy Anti-Cheat, which does support Linux – but Epic deliberately doesn’t enable that support.
No. With AMD and Intel, the driver is already built in, which makes them the most convenient. Nvidia cards run just as well with the proprietary driver – depending on the distro, you just need to install it. The distro comparison shows which one makes that easiest.
Last updated: September 2026 · Anti-cheat status per Are We Anti-Cheat Yet? as of August 2026
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