https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2024/10/steam-games-will-now-need-to-fully-disclose-kernel-level-anti-cheat-on-store-pages/ This website makes use of cookies to enhance your browsing experience and provide additional functionality -> More info Deny Cookies - Allow Cookies * Login * Register * Mailing List * Statistics * Steam Tracker * Support Us * Steam Play * Search Articles * Contact Us * Forum * Discord * Search * Theme: [ ] * GamingOnLinux * GamingOnLinux * Sections + Mailing List + Statistics + Steam Tracker + Support Us + Steam Play + Search Articles + Crowdfunded Games * Contact Us + Email Us + Meet The Team * Forum * Discord search articles [ ] Go [SUBMIT] Login * Login * * Register * * Theme: [ ] * [ ] [SUBMIT] Every article tag can be clicked to get a list of all articles in that category. Every article tag also has an RSS feed! You can customize an RSS feed too! [INS::INS] We do often include affiliate links to earn us some pennies. See more here. Steam games will now need to fully disclose kernel-level anti-cheat on store pages By Liam Dawe - 30 October 2024 at 7:35 pm UTC Valve announced a change for Steam today that will make things a lot clearer for everyone, as developers will now need to clearly list the kernel-level anti-cheat used on Steam store pages. In the Steamworks Developer post Valve said: "We've heard from more and more developers recently that they're looking for the right way to share anti-cheat information about their game with players. At the same time, players have been requesting more transparency around the anti-cheat services used in games, as well as the existence of any additional software that will be installed within the game." Developers with games already on Steam will also need to do this, as it's not just for new games coming up for release, and it is also part of the release process now too. So Valve will be doing checks on games to ensure the notices are there and correct. However, it's only being forced for kernel-level anti-cheat. If it's only client-side or server-side, it's optional, but Valve say "we generally think that any game that makes use of anti-cheat technology would benefit from letting players know". Valve's example pictured below: [7927772011] Some games don't properly remove everything when you uninstall either, with Valve noting this happens with older games, so it's nice to also see this will be noted too. This should make it a bit easier knowing what to avoid on Steam Deck / Desktop Linux now too, since kernel-level anti-cheat games are usually blocked by the developer from running with Proton. Valve have done a few rather interesting Steam updates lately like dealing with publisher banner spam, implementing improvements for Native Linux games, actually noting clearly when you go to purchase a game it's just a license and removing the need for individual arbitration. Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com. Tags: Anti-Cheat, Misc, Steam, Valve 47 Likes Share Share to Mastodon [twitter] [reddit] [facebook] [telegram] About the author - Liam Dawe author picture I am the owner of GamingOnLinux. After discovering Linux back in the days of Mandrake in 2003, I constantly came back to check on the progress of Linux until Ubuntu appeared on the scene and it helped me to really love it. You can reach me easily by emailing GamingOnLinux directly. See more from me Some you may have missed, popular articles from the last month: [1490899896id25524gol] The latest free games with Prime Gaming - October 25 edition - lots for Steam Deck / Linux [1306111330id25522gol] SONIC X SHADOW GENERATIONS released and Steam Deck Verified [Steam-Logo] Steam Beta removes option to globally disable Steam Play plus Game Recording improvements [286979138id25478gol] Marvel's Spider-Man 2 comes to Steam in January 2025 [INS::INS] 24 comments Page: 1/3>> Go to: [1] Quote This [Pop]wytrabbit a day ago * Link [3] View PC info * Mega Supporter * Steam Yay for transparency! 22 Likes, Who? [Fedora]Pyrate a day ago * Link [Pyrate368_] View PC info Great news. Hopefully this starts a similar "game contains Denuvo" sentiment from Steam users (on Linux or otherwise), so that it slowly builds more disliking to the concept on a wide scale, not just Linux players. 21 Likes, Who? [Debian]Philadelphus a day ago * Link [Philadelph] View PC info * Steam * Website * YouTube What does "requires manual removal" in the second screenshot mean? 6 Likes, Who? [Arch]pb a day ago * Link * Steam As they always should. 0 Likes [openSUSE]robvv a day ago * Link [robvv639_a] View PC info Quoting: PhiladelphusWhat does "requires manual removal" in the second screenshot mean? Presumably, you need to crack the game yourself ;-) 14 Likes, Who? [Debian]scaine a day ago * Link [scaine768_] View PC info * Contributing Editor * Mega Supporter * Steam * Website * YouTube * twitch * mastodon Quoting: PhiladelphusWhat does "requires manual removal" in the second screenshot mean? Might be wrong, but I think some of these tools install outside of the game itself, adding themselves to the "add/remove software" tool in Windows, or whatever that's called these days. So you install the game, it installs the kernel-based rootkit/ spyware, you later uninstall the game, but the rootkit/spyware is still there, potentially still running at startup, until you remove it. We Linux users have it lucky in that regard. We might still install the "rootkit/spyware" element in some cases, but because it's tied to Proton emulating (shut up pedants!) the Windows environment, when we stop the game, we also stop all the anti-cheat crap. In our cases, it only gets to run when the game is running. 25 Likes, Who? [Debian]ShadMessa a day ago * Link [2] View PC info * Steam W 1 Likes, Who? [Arch]ElectricPrism a day ago * Link [ElectricPr] View PC info * Steam QuoteSteam games will now need to fully disclose kernel-level anti-cheat on store pages Reasons like these are why I continue to patron Steam and make it rain [grin]. No other store even comes close. (GOG is my second favorite. After the Internet is cancelled over "The New Red Scare" I'll happily be playing my mountain of games offline for quite some time. 13 Likes, Who? Schleichfahrt a day ago * Link [Schleichfa] Quoting: scaine Quoting: PhiladelphusWhat does "requires manual removal" in the second screenshot mean? Might be wrong, but I think some of these tools install outside of the game itself, adding themselves to the "add/remove software" tool in Windows, or whatever that's called these days. So you install the game, it installs the kernel-based rootkit/ spyware, you later uninstall the game, but the rootkit/spyware is still there, potentially still running at startup, until you remove it. We Linux users have it lucky in that regard. We might still install the "rootkit/spyware" element in some cases, but because it's tied to Proton emulating (shut up pedants!) the Windows environment, when we stop the game, we also stop all the anti-cheat crap. In our cases, it only gets to run when the game is running. Exactly, I played the Delta Force demo on my Windows machine during Steam Next Fest and later uninstalled it. Noticed that the "ACE" anti-cheat was still there with 3 services (ACE-BASE, ACE-GAME and a third one). They weren't running, but it's shady to leave the anti-cheat behind after the game has been uninstalled. (Yes, I realize that installing kernel-level anti-cheat is insecure in the first place and at least in theory renders that machine compromised.) Regarding the store page anti-cheat disclosure: That's a fantastic change. Guess there's no chance to make it a bright red box? Last edited by Schleichfahrt on 30 October 2024 at 8:58 pm UTC 2 Likes, Who? [openSUSE]Vortex_Acherontic a day ago * Link View PC info * Steam * Website * YouTube * twitch Quoting: ElectricPrism QuoteSteam games will now need to fully disclose kernel-level anti-cheat on store pages Reasons like these are why I continue to patron Steam and make it rain [grin]. No other store even comes close. (GOG is my second favorite. After the Internet is cancelled over "The New Red Scare" I'll happily be playing my mountain of games offline for quite some time. Agreed. Steam and apparently Valve are awesome! I just hope they will not change direction some day in the future if maybe Lord GabeN is no more :/ 1 Likes, Who? 1/3>> While you're here, please consider supporting GamingOnLinux on: Reward Tiers: # Patreon. Plain Donations: # PayPal. This ensures all of our main content remains totally free for everyone! Patreon supporters can also remove all adverts and sponsors! Supporting us helps bring good, fresh content. Without your continued support, we simply could not continue! You can find even more ways to support us on this dedicated page any time. If you already are, thank you! Login / Register [ ] [ ] [ ] Stay logged in. Note: Checking this box requires a cookie. It is not required. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Login Or login with... --------------------------------------------------------------------- [steam] Sign in with Steam [google] Sign in with Google Social logins require cookies to stay logged in. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Register Forgot Login? Support Us Popular this week * Steam games will now need to fully disclose kernel-level anti-cheat on store pages * The latest free games with Prime Gaming - October 25 edition - lots for Steam Deck / Linux * Rockstar Games Launcher (GTA V, Red Dead Redemption) gets updated for Steam Deck * Steam Beta removes option to globally disable Steam Play plus Game Recording improvements * Set comfort level to maximum with the Mechanism Gaming Pillow for handhelds * > See more over 30 days here Search or view by category Contact * Email Us Buy Games Buy games with our affiliate / partner links: * Fanatical * GOG * Humble Bundles Latest Comments * EA / Respawn now block Apex Legends from running on Lin... 4 minutes ago - WYW * EA / Respawn now block Apex Legends from running on Lin... 21 minutes ago - StalePopcorn * Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered may need a workaround on d... 37 minutes ago - BlackBloodRum * Black Mesa has a new Beta with 'WAY better' support for... 43 minutes ago - buckysrevenge * Bazzite updated to Fedora 41 with expanded PC gaming ha... 51 minutes ago - Zelox * > See more comments Latest Forum Posts * error: unexpectedly disconnected from boot status demon... about 2 hours ago - BlackBloodRum * Weekend Players' Club 10/25/2024 about 2 hours ago - Pengling * remote desktop software? a day ago - whizse * What distro do you use? a day ago - tuxer415 * Steam friends nickname list a day ago - tuxer415 * See more posts Misc * Cookie Preferences * Support Us * About Us * Website Statistics Join us * RSS Feeds * Mastodon * Twitter * Threads * Threads * GOL Telegram * GOL Discord * GOL Steam * GOL YouTube GamingOnLinux (c) 2024 About Us, Contact Us, Privacy, Ethics logo