this post was submitted on 08 Dec 2025
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I've been gaming on Linux for ten years now, and it has gotten to the point where you get a game on Steam, press Play and it runs, unless it requires rootkit malware, and even some of those work.
You're talking about Proton.
Proton, while spearheaded and massively contributed to by Valve, is totally open source, any linux user can use it anyway they want to, and there are others like GloriousEggroll, with his own significant tweaks and optimizations, there's a whole dedicated branch specifically for running Titanfall 2...
The only games that are not compatible either are so by choice of intentionally refusing to make their anti cheat work on linux, or they are brand spanking new and use some newfangled DX12/Nvidia specific thing, which then has to be reverse emgineered so that it works with Proton.
On average, that happens in 3 to 6 months after the game is released.
And runs even better on Arch thanks to CachyOS.
You are completely wrong, it can be made to work on nearly any modern distro.
Like, the only one that even comes to mind where it would probably have problems, would be like the muscl variant of Void linux, because... its based on an entirely different C/C++ library.
You would genuinely be hard pressed to find a linux distro that came out in the last 5 years that would have problems with Proton, I legitimately have no idea why you think its only officially supported on Ubuntu, I am baffled as to how you can be this misinformed.
A Steam Deck, for example, is ... impossible without Proton.
The Steak Deck native OS is SteamOS, which is Arch-based.
PopOS! is a pretty decent, arguably superior, Ubuntu alternative... Debian-based, runs Proton just fine.
Bazzite, an alternate OS for Steam Decks and also just a decent general use anywhere distro... Fedora based, runs Proton just fine.
And, beyond that, Steam can easily run on each of those OS's, and basically their entire sort of family lineage that derives from their basal OS, including said base OS.
Can you tell me how/why you came to think Proton only works properly on Ubuntu?
I am genuienly curious as to how you came to be so misinformed.
That page describes how if you are using Ubuntu, you need to make sure your graphics drivers are up to date, because Ubuntu doesn't always have the latest drivers.
It says nothing about Proton only being supported on Ubuntu, its just telling you how to properly set up Proton, on Ubuntu, depending on your hardware.
I'm not arguing with anyone, I am correct, you are completely wrong.
Though I guess now I understand how you came to be misinformed:
Poor reading skills / lack of knowledge of some intermediate level tech vocab.
... It is describing an example use case of Proton, on Ubuntu.
A singular, example, use case.
It does not say anywhere that Proton only runs on Ubuntu.
I have run Proton, since version...6? 7?... shit maybe all the way back to 5... on all the OS's I listed earlier.
It works fine.
You're the one who needs to learn how to read, like, entire sentences, not just keywords and then formulating assumptions in your head, and you also need to try and have some humility when exploring a subject you are clearly inexperienced in, otherwise you are not going to have a good time trying to learn and use linux.
Find the sentence where it says Proton only works or is supported on Ubuntu.
You can't, because it does not exist on that page.
If you actually read that page, you'd realize that "Requirements" is a misnomer, or at least misleading, page title for what's being described.
This article is more of a Troubleshooting page and how to resolve for your specific configuration.
There is not an Ubuntu official support requirement for Proton.
With SteamOS being Arch based, and Valve being a significant Proton contributer, if there were a specific OS requirement, it'd be Arch or AUR capable distro. But that's obviously not the case.