this post was submitted on 13 Nov 2025

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Valve says they want SteamOS to be installable on any PC (www.youtube.com)

submitted 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) by ClassyHatter@sopuli.xyz to c/linux_gaming@lemmy.world

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In an IGN interview, Valve's Pierre-Loup Griffais said that "[they] want [SteamOS] to be at the point where at some point you can install it on any PC". Below is a transcript of the interview. I tried to clean it up to my best ability.

Just like Steam Deck paved the way for Steam OS on a variety of third-party handhelds, we expect that Steam Machine will pave the way for Steam OS on a bunch of different machines in either similar form factors, different perf envelopes, different segments of the market, and get to a good outcome there. We definitely want to encourage people to try it out on their own hardware. We'll be working on expanding hardware support for the drivers and the base operating system. Just last week, we fixed something that was preventing us from booting on the very latest AMD CPU platforms. Last month, we added support for the Intel Lunar Lake platforms. We're constantly adding support and improving performance. We want it to be at the point where at some point you can install it on any PC, but there's still a ton of work to do there.

If the embedded video doesn't take you to the correct part of the video, the correct timestamp is 5:37.

EDIT: Here’s the written article of the video:
https://www.ign.com/articles/valves-next-gen-steam-machine-and-steam-controller-the-big-interview

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[–] TommySoda@lemmy.world 171 points 2 weeks ago (5 children)

Whether you like the idea of SteamOS or not, this will be the easiest way to get Linux into the mainstream for gamers. And at a time when Windows is forcing everyone to buy a new PC it really couldn't come sooner. If Steam timed this right they could really fuck over Microsoft. I honestly can't think of a more hilarious scenario in which Windows potentially gets dethroned.

Steam gets a lot of deserved flak for their anti-consumer practices and gambling, but it's honestly amazing how much they can do as a company. It's amazing the things you can accomplish when you don't have shareholders to deal with.

[–] nfreak@lemmy.ml 49 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

I've seen a lot of folks waiting for this to make the switch, it's silly but having a familiar name attached to it gives them a sense of comfort, and SteamOS is solid for what it is.

I'm not a fan of its whole "read only filesystem" shenanigans and wiping things on upgrade, so I switched my Deck to CachyOS Handheld, but I acknowledge it does those for a reason, adding a safety net to the "console-like" experience for most users. Admittedly that feature may be just the thing some inexperienced users would need in order to not break the thing.

[–] AkatsukiLevi@lemmy.world 32 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

It may limit stuff for a more technical user But for common folks? It makes it reliable, a lot reliable

[–] moody@lemmings.world 12 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

It's more reliable, but more tedious. Kind of like a walled garden, like Apple and Android phones. You can't just go download random software and install it willy nilly like Windows. I mean you can, but that process is more involved. Flatpaks and Appimages are what most users will be limited to.

[–] AkatsukiLevi@lemmy.world 9 points 2 weeks ago

Absolutely, it is a huge drawback, but the good part of it is that the user is less prone to accidentally fuck it up.

It's quite a trade-off, the more raw control you give to the end user, the more prone they are to breaking things. Of course, exceptions always apply, but in a "generic Joe" kind of user, it tends to follow that

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[–] nfreak@lemmy.ml 9 points 2 weeks ago

Yep, exactly

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[–] Eldritch@piefed.world 21 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

While I generally agree with your overall assessment. The thing you have to understand is that Microsoft has largely written off home users. At least written them off as a concern. They are much more focused now on corporate, government, and AI. Whether or not home users remain trapped on their products, matters less to them. Compared to the other groups.

The recent revelations about meddling by Microsoft corporate into their gaming division, closing so many successful studios. Canceling massive projects. Without regard to how much time, energy and resources were poured into them. All to meet some arbitrary 30% margin of profitability. They're betting in the short term on the other groups to keep home users trapped and helpless. And short term it will work to an extent.

But the time is right for valve to push right now regardless.

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[–] juipeltje@lemmy.world 94 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

When it comes to this i personally tend to agree with what Brodie Robertson always says in his videos about SteamOS. It's kinda silly to keep waiting for an official release when things like Bazzite exist, but if the SteamOS release helps with more people making the switch, then that's still a good thing in the end.

[–] ClassyHatter@sopuli.xyz 52 points 2 weeks ago (9 children)

I mostly agree with that, but the problem with Bazzite and CachyOS is that they are made by small teams. Distributions made by small teams might die because of some small problem, like a key member of the team being unable to continue with the project. Bazzite team, for example, earlier this year said that they would stop maintaining the OS if a proposed change to Fedora would go through, because their team wouldn’t be able cope with the change.

SteamOS on the other hand, being developed by a company with a lot of money to throw into things, is much more resilient OS, and I think that makes it better for larger masses of users.

[–] imecth@fedia.io 15 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Bazzite is downstream from fedora, which i'll remind you is partially handled by red hat, aka a large ass company with "a lot of money to throw into things". The bazzite developers only handle a smaller portion of the maintenance that distributions require, and really only as much as they want and are confident in handling.

[–] Credibly_Human@lemmy.world 10 points 2 weeks ago

And yet, as demonstrated by the kerfuffle earlier, they can't survive if Fedora makes a swing too big for them.

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[–] nialv7@lemmy.world 12 points 2 weeks ago

I am not waiting for it because I personally want to use it. I'm excited for the industry shaping power a Linux OS released by Valve will have.

[–] psycotica0@lemmy.ca 10 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

For sure, I've been running Linux as my daily driver since... 2005? Fuck... and ran it on the side even before that. And I've been trying bazzite on my gaming PC and it's been pretty cool. But I'm still pumped about SteamOS, not because I'm planning on running it, but because any success SteamOS has will be likely directly applicable to Linux desktop gaming in general.

Every game that adjusts something to test on SteamOS will make it better for me off SteamOS. Every peripheral that is built to work with SteamOS, all the user demographic numbers that set priorities withing the gaming industry, are all great.

I'm excited for the year of the Linux desktop.

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[–] Jankatarch@lemmy.world 89 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (12 children)

Linux is getting too mainstream I gotta switch to freebsd /j

[–] Chais@sh.itjust.works 35 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

It's just not the same if you don't have to fiddle for hours to get a game to run, is it?

[–] nocturne@piefed.social 17 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

I thought that was the game of Linux, the fiddling.

[–] Chais@sh.itjust.works 19 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

There's certainly a satisfaction in getting something to work in an environment it was never intended for.
But I can't deny that it's also nice that most games just work nowadays.

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[–] PieMePlenty@lemmy.world 11 points 2 weeks ago (6 children)

Year of the BSD when?

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[–] fox2263@lemmy.world 54 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

They have a unique opportunity here to capitalise on Microsoft’s mistakes.

[–] Zink@programming.dev 25 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

I'd say it's even more unique than a valuable competitive mistake/opportunity.

Valve has the chance to grow the brand and make a bunch of money and all the other standard goals for a company, sure. But they also have the opportunity to benefit the world in subtle but significant ways while getting richer.

A normal megacorp might not give a shit about that last part. But a company that is majority owned by one individual who is already a billionaire that looks like santa claus and presumably cares about his legacy and maybe even other people... it might just be possible!

[–] ricecake@sh.itjust.works 11 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

It's even still a valid course of action if there's literally no interest in making the world better.
They've potentially found a way to make their nearly omnipresent e-commerce platform share a name with the operating system, which is coincidentally mostly developed by others. They get to associate their name with a few tens of billions of dollars of development effort for a fraction of the cost.

To be clear, this isn't bad or anything. It's quite literally what a lot of the people doing all that legwork want. It just doesn't require any altruism from valve. They make money selling games, and they sell more games when people think it's easier to play them. A desktop with the ease of a console is a big selling point for a lot of people.

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[–] Kn1ghtDigital@lemmy.zip 47 points 2 weeks ago (5 children)

I am very excited for steamos, give me my VR capabilities on Linux and I'll say goodbye to Windows forever.

[–] Galapagon@sh.itjust.works 28 points 2 weeks ago (9 children)

Valve has news for you

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[–] Fedizen@lemmy.world 45 points 2 weeks ago

Guy who owns the online, PC version of Gamestop: "What if we took on Microsoft and kicked those mfers in the balls?"

[–] Diplomjodler3@lemmy.world 41 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

I really hope they sell the GabeCube in retail outlets. It'll be a Linux machine you can just plug in and use. A lot of people will buy it as a console and then realise it works fine as a PC. That's the kind of promotion Linux needs right now.

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[–] sheogorath@lemmy.world 34 points 2 weeks ago (5 children)

Nvidia please make a dedicated driver team for Linux. IIRC one of the biggest stumbling block for a general SteamOS release is subpar Nvidia performance on DX12 games that can get around 30% performance degradation. Even Valve assigned a team of engineers to work on this specifically.

[–] ClassyHatter@sopuli.xyz 16 points 2 weeks ago

There is a fix coming for the Nvidia performance problem. It's going to take some months for all the pieces to fall in place. See this video for more about it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JpXINAMaljA

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[–] Sunflier@lemmy.world 23 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (8 children)

I hate Microsoft shoving AI down our throats. I will not upgrade to AI Windows. I just don't want to port over to a new OS because: (1) I like 10's GUI, (2) I don't trust an OS that I might not be able to run word or excel on because I do so much on them, and (3) my version of Windows doesn't have ads on it.

[–] gerowen@lemmy.world 19 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

There are alternatives to Microsoft Office like LibreOffice and OnlyOffice. Plus you can still use Office 365 in a browser if it "has" to be Microsoft Office.

[–] Joelk111@lemmy.world 9 points 2 weeks ago

LibreOffice has been so good. As a non-power user I haven't even noticed a difference, aside from the lack of bullshit.

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[–] Thorry@feddit.org 21 points 2 weeks ago (6 children)

So much for the "I'm still running Windows because I game a lot" crowd. No more excuses, ditch Microsoft and switch to Linux!

[–] Schal330@lemmy.world 21 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (8 children)

There are still excuses. Image of the protondb click-play statistics

I love gaming on my Steam Deck, but I'm not ready to make that PC switch yet because I don't have the time anymore to sit and fuck around trying to get a game to run.

[–] A_Random_Idiot@lemmy.world 27 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (2 children)

Protondb has a lot of old information on its thats not relevant anymore thanks to updated proton releases.

So there are a lot of games that suggest tweaks/tinkering that dont need it anymore... but people like me(random idiots that don't have IT/Sysadmin experience to know everything about linux) still might do, because the reviews from 18 months ago say its necessary, because there arent many reviews and the one from 18 months ago is still only like 5 places down from the top.

So polls like that should be taken with a heavy grain.

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[–] Lemminary@lemmy.world 13 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

It's not an excuse when your favorite game only supports kernel-level anti-cheat on Windows.

[–] FreeBooteR69@lemmy.ca 13 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

If enough people stop buying those games because the developer refuses to infect your computer for you, they'll change their tune. Money talks bullshit walks.

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[–] infinitesunrise@slrpnk.net 9 points 2 weeks ago

Yeah at this point the anticheat of the multiplayer military fps genre really is the opiate of the masses keeping windows at the top of gaming market share. Because no OS besides windows would ever allow for something so wildly insecure.

I play the genre, in fact PUBG is one of my favorite games (Judge me as you will), but I made the decision a few years back that my control over my own computer, my privacy and security in my own home, my ideological rejection of the stranglehold microsoft has over the home PC, were all more important than my ability to play a handful of violent, samesie, DoD-funded military apologia.

I have zero regrets. I do miss PUBG from time to time. But no, in the end it wasn't really an excuse to not switch.

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[–] sirico@feddit.uk 20 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (7 children)

A friend’s response to me yet again trying to push Linux on them, all unprovoked:

“Windows is getting increasingly shit. I've had a login problem for most of the year on my work machine where the cloud stuff won't sync. I can't even use Notepad now because it's cloud-connected. I have to use Excel in the browser for similar reasons. I'd love to be able to move to Linux for everything, but I also cannot be fucked to maintain a Windows machine let alone a Linux one haha.”

This is exactly the kind of person SteamOS is going to capture, I think. The same way, Mint helped kill that whole “my operating system is my hobby” vibe.

I’ve not used SteamOS as a desktop. I own a Steam Deck, but I do think SteamOS is nearly there as an everyday user platform. It’s just a bit more aggressive with settings resets and data overwrites compared to something like Bazzite, which makes it not great for full desktop use yet. I've deep dove into nix this month and been making my own tools to bounce off the way NixOS works, like tests before switches and auto uploading to GitHub made a little webui control center etc. I could see Valve doing something similar with their OS to overcome current SteamOS's issues and improve things for an end user

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[–] MoreZombies@quokk.au 20 points 2 weeks ago

I put SteamOS on my handheld and turned it into my main PC. I haven't missed Windows even slightly.

[–] desmosthenes@lemmy.world 14 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

if they sell easy install one/low click installs they’d make a killing.

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[–] figjam@midwest.social 12 points 2 weeks ago

Cool, me to.

[–] ClydapusGotwald@lemmy.world 12 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

If all the games I had worked on steam os I’d switch to Linux in a heartbeat.

[–] cyberwolfie@lemmy.ml 9 points 2 weeks ago (7 children)

Which ones don't?

[–] Frenchgeek@lemmy.ml 26 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

The ones with kernel level rootkits. I think they call it "anti cheat detection"

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[–] jokro@feddit.org 9 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

If this a video about an interview why not also link the interview?

[–] jokro@feddit.org 9 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

https://www.ign.com/articles/valves-next-gen-steam-machine-and-steam-controller-the-big-interview

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