Apex Legends is taking away its support for the Steam Deck and Linux

Apex Legends is 1 of the lone conflict royale games that lets you play connected a Steam Deck gaming handheld — Fortnite, Valorant and PUBG and much ne'er supported it successful the archetypal place, citing concerns astir anti-cheat. But today, Electronic Arts and Respawn are taking the crippled distant for that precise aforesaid reason.

“In our efforts to combat cheating successful Apex, we’ve identified Linux OS arsenic being a way for a assortment of impactful exploits and cheats. As a result, we’ve decided to artifact Linux OS entree to the game,” writes EA, in a blog station explaining the decision.

Apex Legends did person anti-cheat bundle that did tally connected the Steam Deck — specifically, the crippled uses Epic Games’ Easy Anti-Cheat (EAC), which has been compatible with the Linux gaming handheld for implicit 3 years now. But that wasn’t bully capable for Epic Games’ ain Fortnite — Tim Sweeney explained that the “threat model” was excessively ample successful 2022 — and it’s seemingly nary longer bully capable for EA now.

“Linux cheats are so harder to observe and the information shows that they are increasing astatine a complaint that requires an outsized level of absorption and attraction from the squad for a comparatively tiny platform. There are besides cases successful which cheats for the Windows OS get emulated arsenic if it’s connected Linux successful bid to summation the trouble of detection and prevention,” EA writes today.

Riot Games has akin concerns. Like galore crippled developers, it besides doesn’t enactment Valorant and League of Legends connected Linux owed to the accrued anticipation of cheating. In a caller interrogation with The Verge, Phillip Koskinas, manager of anti-cheat connected Valorant, discussed wherefore crippled developers are shying distant from Linux support.

“You tin freely manipulate the kernel, and there’s nary idiosyncratic mode calls to attest that it’s adjacent genuine,” says Koskinas. “You could marque a Linux organisation that’s purpose-built for cheating and we’d beryllium smoked.”

Linux is truthful unfastened that you tin tally an emulated mentation of Counter-Strike 2 close present connected a Steam Deck and inactive person a cheat connected the device. “Imagine if Steam Deck conscionable has the information handled truthful we cognize it’s a genuine device, it’s afloat attested, each these features are enabled, we’d beryllium similar cool, spell game, nary problem” says Koskinas.

As usual, it’s not wide if this is mostly a Linux problem, oregon mostly a occupation of needing to walk much wealth connected originative solutions than the tiny fig of players mightiness beryllium worth. Last December, Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney told america helium could perchance warrant putting Fortnite connected the Steam Deck if it had “tens of millions of users” there, and EA writes contiguous that it weighed its Apex decision based connected the “small” colonisation of Linux players versus however “their interaction infected a just magnitude of players’ games.”

EA says you’ll inactive beryllium capable to play Apex Legends connected a Steam Deck if you instal Windows. Valve inactive hasn’t released its ain dual-boot installer to marque putting Windows connected a Steam Deck easier — the diagnostic has been “high connected the list” for immoderate time — but it has precocious plugged immoderate of the large holes successful its Windows drivers.