When Valve took its second major crack at making Steam machines happen, in the form of the Steam Deck, one of the big surprises was the company’s choice to base the Linux operating system the Steam Deck uses on Arch Linux, instead of the Debian base it was using before. It seems this choice is not only benefiting Valve, but also Arch.
We are excited to announce that Arch Linux is entering into a direct collaboration with Valve. Valve is generously providing backing for two critical projects that will have a huge impact on our distribution: a build service infrastructure and a secure signing enclave. By supporting work on a freelance basis for these topics, Valve enables us to work on them without being limited solely by the free time of our volunteers.
↫ Levente Polyak
This is great news for Arch, but of course, also for Linux in general. The work distributions do to improve their user experience tend to be picked up by other distributions, and it’s clear that Valve’s contributions have been vast. With these collaborations, Valve is also showing it’s in it for the long term, and not just interested in taking from the community, but also in giving, which is good news for the large number of people now using Linux for gaming.
The Arch team highlights that these projects will follow the regular administrative and decision-making processes within the distribution, so we’re not looking at parallel efforts forced upon everyone else without a say.
I’m really impressed with the work Valve has been doing to support gaming on Linux, and therefore also Windows emulation in general. Proton/WINE has come so far so fast since they’ve been pushing the Steam decks.
I’m also sure that at some point Valve’s leadership will change and they’ll head down the enshittification pathway, but at least this work will continue to be open.
I am also very impressed with and thankful for Valve. They may be allies longer than you think though.
Valve has very little incentive to monetize or enshittify Linux. Their goal if anything is to de-monetize Windows. Well, it is not even that. They just want to make sure that they are not beholden to Microsoft–that they do not have to accept whatever Microsoft decides to do with their monopoly. Valve wants gaming to work well on Linux so that Windows is not the only option. As long as their is an alternative, Microsoft is limited with how much weight they can throw around.
So, Valve invests in Linux because it gives them leverage, security, and control over their own business. It is an escape hatch if Windows ever became so problematic that Valve’s business would be threatened.
I mean, I am sure that Value is happy to save some licensing bucks on the hardware they sell ( like Steam deck ) as well. Even then though, I think it is more about control.
But until there are more Steam players on Steam hardware than there are on Windows, I think we will continue to see Valve as a friend to Linux.
Yes, I think you are right, that Microsoft is the reason, why Valve supports Linux.
If I remember right, then the reason was Windows 8.
Windows 8 was the first Windows, where Microsoft includes the Microsoft Store.
So, because Microsoft creates an alternative to Steam, which is included in Windows, Valve works on an alternative to Windows.
theuserbl,
I also recall Gabe Newell reacting this way towards microsoft’s plans to phase out the “legacy desktop” in favor of the metro walled garden apps. I think we’re all lucky the windows walled garden didn’t pan out. Not only would this have solidified microsoft’s control over the software industry, but I’m pretty sure it would have accelerated a macos lockdown too.
Would be nice if they made SteamOS available for download for everyone, or even create a desktop-focused distro based on their current Arch + KDE stack, which could be to Arch what Ubuntu is to Debian.
In a very real, very open source way, Steam OS IS available for everyone. The problem is, they tuned the hell out of it for their own platform, and just haven’t spent the resources to make it more generally applicable. The Mythical Man Month (a decades old book) explains why. Basically, if you make a purpose fit bit of software (Steam OS) then try to make it more generic, so you can use it in more places, expect to multiply your developer budget by 4. If you then want to make it a product – multiply that by 10.
It makes little sense for Valve to put in that effort. But the source code is shared, and any company could take that, hire a few Linux engineers, and get that tuned for their own hardware, just the way Valve did. The difference is that it’s not the Windows, a single product strategy, and in order to understand how to use it, companies have to understand the difference. Valve is likely never going to polish this in to a general use end product, and that’s okay. Nothing is stopping MSI, or ASUS, or anyone else from taking what Valve has done, and adapting it to their hardware. Nothing at all, except understanding, and maybe a little budget. So far, they’ve opted to spend that budget trying (in vane) to make Windows not suck for their use cases.
BTW, I’m still holding my breath for a Valve livingroom box. Come on Valve! I love the Steam Deck platform, and really really want that in my livingroom on standardized hardware. I’m aware I could build a custom PC – but that’s expensive, and not really what I want.
This is great! I love my Steam Deck, and the work on Wine/Proton. Here’s hoping for better hardware support and better support for VR (the only things keeping my Windows partition alive).
I used Arch as my main OS for a brief period about 12 years ago, but it was too fast-moving for me so I moved on and didn’t look back. I was a little apprehensive when I learned that it would be the base for the Steam Deck’s OS, and I avoided getting a Steam Deck on launch partly because of this. I learned however that it’s not pure Arch but a heavily modified, immutable OS based on Arch, so when the OLED version was released I bit the bullet and got one.
I have to say I have never before encountered such a stable and consumer-friendly Linux based OS! It’s nearly Apple levels of hardware and software cohesion, it’s clear the Deck and its OS were designed from the ground up just for each other. It has definitely given me a new appreciation for what Arch can be, and knowing now that Valve is working closely with them to improve SteamOS and the Deck, and to improve Arch itself, is refreshing.
My current main workstation at home is a Geekom A7, which on paper is far more powerful than the previous generation AMD hardware in the Deck, yet the Deck plays the same games at higher framerates and better quality settings, while generating a fraction of the heat and noise of the mini PC. It’s almost magical how Valve has managed to squeeze every ounce of performance out of the hardware and software. If in the future Valve releases a desktop console version of the Deck, I’m buying it immediately to replace the mini PC I’m using now, not so much for gaming but for daily use as a workstation. The KDE desktop mode of the Deck is fantastic!