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Software 2. Operating Systems 3. Linux Nearly 90% of Windows Games now run on Linux, latest data shows -- as Windows 10 dies, gaming on Linux is more viable than ever News By Mark Tyson published 28 October 2025 The number continues to grow, but growth seems to be slowing. * * * * * * * Comments (18) When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here's how it works. Linux gaming (Image credit: Tom's Hardware) The viability of Linux as a gaming platform has come on leaps and bounds in recent years due to the sterling work of WINE and Proton developers, among others, and interest in hardware like the Steam Deck. However, the most recent stats from ProtonDB (via Boiling Steam ) highlight that we are edging towards a magnificent milestone. The latest distilled data shows that almost 90% of Windows games now run on Linux. Having nine in ten Windows games accessible in a new Linux install is quite an achievement. The milestone comes as we see computer users flocking to other platforms during the transition from the Windows 10 to 11 eras. Of course, the underlying data isn't quite so simple as the headline stat. There are different degrees of compatibility gamers must consider when checking if their favorite Windows games work on Linux distros like Mint, Zorin, Bazzite, or even SteamOS. Windows Games' Compatibility on Linux Is at an All-Time High: https://t.co/G06smdohrX #linux #linuxgaming #update #gaming # steam #proton #steamplay #wine #compatibility #windows pic.twitter.com/e598JNzqgPOctober 26, 2025 The above chart relies on Boiling Steam's five definitions of playability, but these aren't a million miles from the Steam Deck ratings Valve dishes out. The main difference seems to be that Boiling Steam doesn't seem to care whether Steam Deck performance is a gaming-limiting factor. So, in a way, its ratings are perhaps more useful to desktop and laptop PC users who typically have systems that easily outpace a Steam Deck. You may like * ROG Xbox Ally X running Bazzite ROG Xbox Ally runs better on Linux than the Windows it ships with * AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D Processor Box Retail AMD CPUs surpass the 40% threshold in latest Steam hardware survey * Lenovo Legion Go S (SteamOS) Lenovo Legion devices running Linux set to get new 'Extreme' mode that fixes previously-broken power limits Boiling Steam platinum (green) rank denotes games that run perfectly, out of the box. Gold (light green) requires just minor tweaks. Silver (yellow) games are playable but have some imperfections. Borked (dark red) games simply refuse to launch. Lastly, Bronze (red) titles exist in the murky water between silver and borked. Looking at the chart trends, we see an encouraging growth in the number of new releases that are platinum (green) rated, and a thinning down of the red/dark red zone. Developers will, of course, benefit from more hardware being able to play their games with few if any wrinkles, so there must be an incentive to spend at least a little time checking a new Windows game on Linux, or the Steam Deck specifically. On the flip side, there are some popular titles that don't look like they will be becoming Linux-friendly anytime soon. The well-known compatibility issues with various anti-cheat technology platforms look set to persist, for now. Moreover, Boiling Steam notes that other devs just seem to be averse to non-Windows gamers. There is quite a bit that can be done with those non-intentionally stubborn games, though. We'd recommend researching community-driven Linux compatibility tips and tweaks for your favorite games. Google Preferred Source Follow Tom's Hardware on Google News, or add us as a preferred source , to get our latest news, analysis, & reviews in your feeds. Stay On the Cutting Edge: Get the Tom's Hardware Newsletter Get Tom's Hardware's best news and in-depth reviews, straight to your inbox. [ ][ ]Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands[ ]Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors[Sign me up] By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over. TOPICS Steam Gaming See all comments (18) Mark Tyson Mark Tyson Social Links Navigation News Editor Mark Tyson is a news editor at Tom's Hardware. He enjoys covering the full breadth of PC tech; from business and semiconductor design to products approaching the edge of reason. Read more ROG Xbox Ally X running Bazzite ROG Xbox Ally runs better on Linux than the Windows it ships with AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D Processor Box Retail AMD CPUs surpass the 40% threshold in latest Steam hardware survey Lenovo Legion Go S (SteamOS) Lenovo Legion devices running Linux set to get new 'Extreme' mode that fixes previously-broken power limits Kazeta OS Linux gaming OS Kazeta promises 'console gaming experience of the 1990s' for PC users Steam Hardware Survey April 2022 32GB of RAM on track to become the new majority for gamers Linuxfx I've tried many Linux distros designed to look and feel like Windows, and this is the best one yet Latest in Linux Lenovo Legion Go S (SteamOS) Lenovo Legion devices running Linux set to get new 'Extreme' mode that fixes previously-broken power limits Tmux Here's how I multi-task in the Linux terminal with Tmux Linux Mint 22.2 'Zara' arrives Linux Mint 22.2 'Zara' released with native fingerprint support Kazeta OS Linux gaming OS Kazeta promises 'console gaming experience of the 1990s' for PC users ATI R300 GPU on a Medion Radeon 9600TX card 20-year-old ATI Radeon GPUs are still getting driver updates and extensions Floppy disk photo Orphaned Linux drivers for floppy disks gets first patch of any significance in three years - cleanup effort implies floppies spared the axe for a few more years Latest in News Trump salutes as he and Japanese PM Takaichi review the honor guard during at Akasaka Palace. 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Reply * Gravy405 Pop os. I have not found any newer games that do not work, except for the kernel level anti cheat games. What ever will work on steam deck and then some. Just saying. Hardcore gamer for last 40 years. Ditched windows 5 years ago and not looking back. I dont even dual boot anymore. Reply * TerryLaze Math Geek said: i think to most users, the more relevant number would be how many of the newer games coming out are supported. that 90% really does not explain what games are working and what are not. is there some specific sub group that struggles ( like maybe unreal engine based or some other niche) while another one works great every time? a catalog of 2 mil 10 year old games is nice, but in the end how is the new AAA gaming world doing with linux compatibility? a title of "90% of games from this year work on Linux out of the box !!" would be worth cheering over. All of this gets addressed in the original article which is linked. The 90% is the amount of games that boot up and do something, 10% is not even loading. Reply * ezst036 As a Linux user of some over 20 years and now on my phone............. One thing that I think is funny is the shifting naysayers. Way back when it used to be "Linux can't be used by anybody its all command line!" (even though 20 years ago there were solid desktops like GNOME and KDE) More than 10 years ago it was "Linux can't be installed by anybody, all of the installers are so hard to use and terminal based!" Even though the mainstream was by that time point and click GUI installers. Around the time the first Steam Machines appeared, it was "Linux can't be mainstream desktop, it can't play any games nor all of these name name name name name name programs!" Now it's "Linux can't play Fortnite! That one program, just that one! Oh noes! Never going anywhere" The island just keeps getting smaller, and smaller, and smaller. Linux is now so pervasive on average desktops I'm starting to see the decline of the "security by obscurity" argument and we are on the cusp of Linux desktops having to have antivirus programs. There's enough desktops out there now that the virus scene is starting to diversify. And its all starting over with the Linux phones. Linux will never go mainstream on phones! Its all command line! The installers are all hard to use and terminal based! Sigh. The naysayers will never learn First They Ignore You, Then They Laugh at You, Then They Attack You, Then You Win - attributed falsely to Gandhi Reply * das_stig The day when Linux is the default gaming platform may about to be born and those that control the code should simply turn around to game developers and say "Take Your Buggy DRM And Cheat Code And Fork Off!". Microsoft should be worried, without gaming, Windows will be a business OS and revenue will tank ! Reply * mitch074 Math Geek said: i think to most users, the more relevant number would be how many of the newer games coming out are supported. that 90% really does not explain what games are working and what are not. is there some specific sub group that struggles ( like maybe unreal engine based or some other niche) while another one works great every time? a catalog of 2 mil 10 year old games is nice, but in the end how is the new AAA gaming world doing with linux compatibility? a title of "90% of games from this year work on Linux out of the box !!" would be worth cheering over. You can have a look at Protondb's dashboard (https:// www.protondb.com/dashboard), select 'Popular games' (or 'Top 100') and select ProtonDB medals. As of today, 88% of (Steam) games have a Silver rating or above, 83% Gold or above. Silver may mean non-playing videos at boot, requirement to use a command line switch (e.g. %command% -dx11 ) or some performance troubles that force you to lower settings but they don't prevent the game from running a playthrough. Gold usually means that it runs unmodified on most systems, but may require a command line switch for some, a driver version more recent than shipped by mainstream distros or even an experimental /third-party build of Proton (GloriousEggroll comes to mind) for now. Reply * ekio A few years ago I remember the Phoronix article that got us Linux users exited because L4D got ported and we were like wow a real game native on Linux! Here we go a few years later and we have thousand of Windows binaries running faster than on Windows itsef. The mesa drivers are getting so good AMD ditched their own private driver and joined the mesa team because radv was superior. Nvidia now helps opensource devs with partial nda doc. I think game devs should start thinking about compiling for native linux soon because the trend is going the Linux direction more and more (steam deck is more popular than windows handheld) and if gamers can run 1.5x more fps under Steam OS, there will be a switch someday. Especially when modern DEs are so good. Not even mentioning my little new fav cosmic that is so promising. Anyway, this is what happens when freedom and talent are unleashed with limited money vs Microsoft with all the money in the world. Reply * waltc3 Subtract the Windows games running on an emulator under a linux distro, and recalculate...;) IMO, native is better, doesn't matter the OS. Reply * luissantos ekio said: Here we go a few years later and we have thousand of Windows binaries running faster than on Windows itsef. Really? Because my "independent research" (i.e. prompting ChatGPT, Gemini and Grok) still returns a 5-8% performance penalty on Bazzite / Nobara and 3-5% penalty on CachyOS, arguably the most optimized distros available. This drops to 1-2% on titles running Vulkan, but never outperforms Windows 11 - which is itself 3-5% faster than Windows 10, despite all the clamors of "poor optimization". My main concern isn't so much "how many run", but exclusively "how many run without issue" and "which ones are those". If the games I play don't run faster on Linux, may require extra steps to run smoothly, or if some may not run at all, then why would I change to a worse gaming platform? Reply * mitch074 luissantos said: Really? Because my "independent research" (i.e. prompting ChatGPT, Gemini and Grok) still returns a 5-8% performance penalty on Bazzite / Nobara and 3-5% penalty on CachyOS, arguably the most optimized distros available. This drops to 1-2% on titles running Vulkan, but never outperforms Windows 11 - which is itself 3-5% faster than Windows 10, despite all the clamors of "poor optimization". My main concern isn't so much "how many run", but exclusively "how many run without issue" and "which ones are those". If the games I play don't run faster on Linux, may require extra steps to run smoothly, or if some may not run at all, then why would I change to a worse gaming platform? So, you asked AI chatbots trained on 3 years old data to give you a 'current' view of things, and you disregard an up to date maintained reports site ? You do know AI LLMs are NOT to be taken as a definitive source for data, right ? Reply * View All 18 Comments Show more comments Tom's Hardware is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site. 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