Linux gaming has one enemy Proton still can’t beat

Linux gaming has come a long way. Back in the days before Wine and Proton, gaming was a convoluted, niche hobby for Linux users. It required a ton of manual tweaking, but efforts from both Valve and the open-source community have brought it into a much, much better state.

The magic sauce is undoubtedly Proton, a compatibility layer built by Valve (based on Wine) that lets Windows games run directly on Linux-based operating systems. The list of supported games grows by the minute, and almost all PC games are playable using the translation layer.

Almost. Unfortunately, anti-cheat solutions still pose a major problem for Proton and Wine, and there simply isn’t an easy way to get these games working on Linux.

Kernel-level anti-cheat is the Achilles' heel

This is where it all starts to fall apart

Proton is a legitimately impressive piece of software. It essentially translates Windows executables and games into formats that can be directly read and used by a Linux system, with almost negligible performance overhead.

In fact, in certain cases, a game running through Proton has a good chance of running better than on a standard Windows 11 installation, largely thanks to the excess bloatin the latter.

That being said, anti-cheat is where it all starts to fall apart. Almost all modern AAA live-service titles (such as Call of Duty and Battlefield, along with Marathon — to name a few) are entirely incompatible with Proton.

There is simply no way to play these multiplayer-focused titles on Linux systems. At least not easily, but I’m getting way ahead of myself here. Which is quite a shame, really.

Some of the best multiplayer experiences are still held hostage by Windows, and there doesn’t seem to be much effort to port them to Linux in the name of “security”.

That’s not to say Proton is entirely incompatible with anti-cheat software

It’s up to the developers

Proton is not inherently incompatible with anti-cheat solutions. We’ve already seen many games run just fine on Linux, with Arc Raiders being a very recent example. In most cases, the anti-cheat software deliberately blocks Linux installs, and enabling it is as simple as flicking a switch.

Unfortunately, many publishers simply forgo Linux systems in the name of security. Their reasoning is that Linux systems can be used by malicious actors to disrupt friendly matches, which is true to some extent.

However, this does not change the fact that anti-cheat software essentially does nothing to permanently stop cheaters from ruining a game. Hacks have and will continue to exist, and punishing a now-growing subset of legitimate players who simply do not want to change operating systems isn’t particularly palatable.

We’ve seen time and time again how teams have abandoned Linux support to curb cheaters, only for it to go terribly wrong and do basically nothing — as seen in Apex Legends.

The bottom line is, anti-cheat solutions are always a bit of a cat-and-mouse game. Weeding out exploits is a difficult business, and you really can’t single out one operating system and expect it to all work out, even more so when the ones using these tools on Linux are far fewer than the ones running exploits within Windows.

Alternatives and some rather strange rabbit holes

A cat-and-mouse game

That being said, there are ways to circumvent these blockades. The first method is the most obvious, which goes for the dual-boot method. You’ll essentially boot Windows and Linux on the same machine, preferably on two separate drives.

In my experience, dual-booting is simply not worth it, more so if you have the two operating systems installed on the same drive. Things break, and they break spectacularly whenever Windows decides to push an update.

The next, slightly pricier solution is to opt for a secondary machine that runs Windows. This could be an existing computer or an older laptop. If you’re not exactly keen on switching setups physically, you could always look into Moonlight and Sunshine streaming to play these games remotely, which works out better than you’d think.

The final, more drastic solution is to try running games on a Windows virtual machine. Some titles have been reported to work just fine with GPU passthrough, although many of these games can also detect a VM and block you from playing, regardless.

Hopeful for the future

While it’s certainly not the year of the Linux desktop just yet, we are slowly approaching it. Desktop Linux adoption has grown markedly in the past few years alone, and we’re seeing steady gains, especially in gaming.

Gaming works better than it ever did before on Linux, and there has been some serious effort into bridging anti-cheat compatibility on Linux and Windows systems. As Linux grows in popularity, expect the list to steadily increase over time.

Until then, I’ll remain hopeful for a better future and remain content with my single-player games, which work fantastically well right now.