As Microsoft concentrates on building AI features into Windows, Valve is steadily expanding SteamOS into a credible alternative for PC gaming. Once tightly bound to Windows, PC gaming is increasingly shifting toward Valve’s Linux-based platform.
Valve’s effort extends beyond the Steam Deck handheld. The company is preparing a new Steam Machine living room PC, and many games originally built for Windows now run on SteamOS with little or no adjustment from users.
For decades, Windows’ dominance in gaming helped keep players on Microsoft’s platform, while Apple and Google offered limited support for high-end PC games. That dynamic began to change when Valve introduced SteamOS in 2013 as a Linux-based operating system for gaming PCs and living room consoles.
The first wave of Steam Machines failed to gain traction. Consumers were slow to adopt them, and developers were reluctant to invest in native Linux ports for a small audience. Still, SteamOS put pressure on Microsoft at a time when Windows 8 and Windows RT raised fears of a more locked-down ecosystem. Microsoft ultimately scrapped Windows RT and kept Windows closer to a traditional open desktop model.
Valve continued supporting Steam on Linux and developed a different strategy: running Windows games on Linux without requiring native ports.
Proton brings Windows games to Linux
In 2018, Valve launched Proton, a compatibility layer built into Steam. Based on the long-running Wine project, Proton allows many Windows games to run on SteamOS and other Linux distributions.
Early versions of Proton were limited, but Valve invested heavily in improving game support and performance. The 2022 release of the Steam Deck handheld, which runs SteamOS, accelerated this work. To reach Steam Deck users, developers increasingly ensure that their Windows titles work well through Proton.
As a result, a large share of Windows games on Steam now run on Linux automatically, with no manual tweaking required from players.
Performance gains on SteamOS
Benchmark tests increasingly show that some PC games perform as well as, or better, on SteamOS than on Windows 11. Reviews of handheld PCs, such as Lenovo’s Legion Go series, have highlighted how Windows can limit the experience compared with Valve’s optimized SteamOS environment.
Microsoft is responding by improving Windows for handheld devices, including work on a full-screen Xbox-oriented gaming interface for portable PCs. But Valve’s head start with SteamOS and Steam Deck has already reshaped expectations for portable PC gaming.
A shifting PC gaming ecosystem
Valve’s approach relies on long-term investment. By 2022, the company was directly funding more than 100 open-source developers working on Proton and other components of SteamOS, according to Valve developer Pierre-Loup Griffais.
During the same period, Microsoft’s attention moved between initiatives such as Edge crypto wallet experiments, metaverse projects, and now a major push into AI across Windows and its broader product line.
Anti-cheat systems remain an area where Windows still has an advantage. Many multiplayer games rely on kernel-level anti-cheat tools that Proton cannot fully support. However, major services such as Easy Anti-Cheat and BattlEye now work with Proton, and some players remain wary of giving anti-cheat software deep access to their systems. Steam requires developers to disclose intrusive anti-cheat measures on store pages, which may influence how studios implement these tools.
Outside these constraints, the PC gaming ecosystem has become more portable. Libraries of games can now move between Windows, SteamOS, and other Linux distributions with fewer compromises than in the past.
SteamOS as a desktop platform
Although Valve has emphasized the “Big Picture” interface for handheld devices and living room systems, SteamOS is a full Linux distribution. It uses the KDE Plasma desktop environment, allowing users to exit the Steam interface and run standard Linux applications, including browsers like Firefox and Chrome.
SteamOS can already be installed on traditional gaming PCs, and the Steam Deck can double as a desktop machine when connected to a dock. When Valve’s new Steam Machine arrives in 2026, some users are likely to treat it as both a console-style device and a general-purpose Linux PC on their TV.
PC makers have started shipping devices with SteamOS preinstalled, suggesting that Valve’s operating system may appear on more laptops and desktops over time. This erodes one of Microsoft’s traditional advantages: Windows’ unmatched catalog of native PC games.
Preparing SteamOS for Arm-based PCs
Valve is also positioning SteamOS for Arm-based hardware. Steam Frame, a forthcoming standalone VR headset, will be the first Arm PC to run SteamOS. To support Windows games designed for x86 chips from Intel and AMD, Valve has been backing the Fex emulator, which works alongside Proton.
According to Griffais, the Fex compatibility layer began in 2016 or 2017, with the understanding that it would take close to a decade to mature into something players could rely on for their existing libraries. Arm-based SteamOS devices are expected to use Proton together with Fex to run x86 Windows games on Arm processors.
Windows faces a new kind of competition
Valve now leads in the handheld PC gaming category and is turning SteamOS into a cross-device platform that spans handhelds, living room PCs, desktops, and future Arm-based systems. This sets up a direct contest between Windows and SteamOS for the attention of PC gamers.
Microsoft can still improve Windows for gaming, particularly on portable devices, and could further blur the line between Xbox and PC by making future consoles more PC-like. But Windows is no longer the default or only choice for playing PC games.
As Microsoft channels resources into AI and cloud services, Valve’s sustained investment in SteamOS has transformed Linux from a niche gaming option into a viable competitor in the broader PC gaming market.