I’m a gamer, and games are the only reason I’m still on Windows. I use a Mac for most of my day-to-day work, my servers have used Linux for years, and I frequently use WSL even on Windows when doing development work or interacting with my servers. Years and years ago, I’d tried to switch to Linux, but most of the games I played simply weren’t playable. Now, though, things are different, and fantastic devices like the Steam Deck prove that Linux is viable as a gaming platform these days.
I wish I could switch to Linux, but the sad truth is that I can’t. Proton is great; there are plenty of native games now built for Linux too, but the problem isn’t the catalog anymore. No, the problem is that most of the games that I play won’t run on Linux, thanks to anti-cheat requirements.
I have a few gamer friends who also work in tech and are in quite a similar situation to me. They use Linux on their laptop or they have a MacBook, and their gaming PC runs Windows out of necessity to play games like Counter-Strike 2 or Valorant. The more frustrating thing about Counter-Strike is that the game itself is playable on Linux, but the variety of third-party services (which most players switch to once they achieve a certain skill level) all require a kernel-level, third-party anti-cheat that integrates with the game. These don’t run on anything but Windows, and it’s unlikely that they ever will.
The same goes for Valorant, except that game uses the Vanguard anti-cheat, an anti-cheat made by Riot that makes it so you can’t even play the game at all unless you’re on Windows. It’s not required for any third-party matchmaking services; it’s just required for the game in general. I could, theoretically, at least play Counter-Strike on regular Valve servers if I switched to Linux, but I’d have to stop playing Valorant entirely if I were to make the switch. The even more frustrating thing about it is that there are games today removing Linux support, such as in the case of Grand Theft Auto V Online and Apex Legends, which both supported online play on Linux once upon a time, only to remove that support later on.
For me, anti-cheat is the final hurdle that keeps me on Windows.
