Valve and their online video game store, Steam, are an important part of the gaming scene on Linux. Ever since they launched the Proton compatibility layer and the Steam Deck, their popularity among Linux gamers has been on the rise.
While some game developers seem to think that Valve has to do all the heavy lifting on providing Steam Deck support for games, they have been doing well.
And, with a recent leak, it appears that they are venturing into newer horizons when it comes to hardware support.
What's Happening: Spotted on SteamDB, ValveTestApp3043620 is a test application which shows that Valve is working on ARM64 support for Proton. There is a good deal of evidence that they are testing it across many games, both VR and non-VR.
In the changelist for the app, you will also see mentions of some interesting stuff, like Proton Experimental, which is the bleeding-edge version of the compatibility layer used to take advantage of the latest fixes.
And Waydroid, a container-based solution that facilitates the running of a fully equipped Android system on Linux computers with the Wayland session.
You will also find many games on that list; some notable ones include the likes of Moss: Book II, Open Brush, Garry's Mod, Papers Please, and Frostpunk.
What To Expect: Well, there are many things that you could expect out of Valve's work. The first possibility might be that they are readying up support for the rumored Valve Index 2 VR headset, given that there are many VR games on the list.
The second would be that they are focusing their efforts on bringing Steam support to laptops with ARM processors.
Another potential scenario could be that they are working on bringing support for the Android software to Steam (on Linux, preferably), expanding the access to software for users.
There's also talk of an ARM-based Steam Deck, which might be yet another reason behind all this testing. But, ultimately, I don't work at Valve, so at this point, these are speculations about what this thing might be about.
💬 What do you think? What Valve's up to? Add your predictions in the comments below!
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Sourav Rudra
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