Nvidia drivers are holding back a widespread SteamOS release, “most people wouldn’t have a good experience” – PC Guide – For The Latest PC Hardware & Tech News
There have been some exciting developments surrounding SteamOS as of late. At CES 2025 last week, it was revealed that SteamOS is finally coming to a third-party handheld, namely in the form of the Lenovo Legion Go S. That won’t be available until May later this year, but Valve will be “shipping a beta of SteamOS which should improve the experience on other handhelds” ahead of that release, so there’s plenty to be excited about if you want to eventually ditch Windows.However, in a recent interview with Pierre-Loup Griffais, one of the key developers working on SteamOS, one of the barriers to bringing the Linux-based operating system to everyone is driver support – and it seems as if Nvidia is the biggest offender at the moment.There are plenty of people out there who might want to stop gaming on Windows. Linux gaming has always been a niche thing, but the recent developments for SteamOS are an exciting prospect. For the time being, Griffais says that handhelds are Valve’s focus, and more form factors like a Steam Machine are “not there yet” with no time frame immediately apparent.When asked how difficult it is to release SteamOS “for everyone” right now, Griffais discussed a couple of issues; firstly, driver support.“I think there are a couple of factors. One is that on some platforms, the support is still very basic. Intel, it works a little bit better than before, but our driver teams and Intel are working on it. NVIDIA, the integration of open source drivers is still pretty nascent. There’s still a lot of work to be done on that side… So it’s a little bit complicated to say that we’re going to release this version when most people wouldn’t have a good experience.” [translated]Valve is working together with Intel to help bring SteamOS to more platforms, and it seems like good progress is being made there. However, in the case of Nvidia, it’s still early days for its open-source drivers. As we’ve seen from the Steam Hardware and Software Survey that goes out each month, Nvidia GPUs are far more popular than the competition, hence why most players will struggle to have a good experience on SteamOS at the minute.As you may already know, the Steam Deck – Valve’s popular handheld – is based on AMD hardware (both the CPU and integrated graphics). So, while there’s great support on the AMD side of things, compatibility for machines running Intel and Nvidia hardware needs more work. On a positive note, Griffais reveals that developers are working on Nvidia’s open-source driver:“Yes, we already have four developers on the NVIDIA open source driver for example. It’s just that there’s a lot of work to do. On AMD, we started developing the open source driver on our side in 2017, so we had a pretty good head start. But the beauty of this open source model is that a lot of the elements that we’ve put in place or that have been put in place by other players in the community are shared. A lot of work has already been done, and everyone is developing the same code base. It’s a pretty unique model.” [translated]The other issue is related to ease of installation. At the moment, Valve doesn’t offer a layer of installation – mostly because Steam Deck “came straight out of the box” and required no such process. Griffais says this is “just a matter of priority”, so it seems relatively trivial (from an outside perspective) once the time comes to make it so.Will you be buying a new handheld with SteamOS?Yes, I’ll be buying the Lenovo Legion Go S with SteamOSNo, I’m happy gaming on a Windows handheldI already have a Steam Deck and don’t need to upgradeI’m waiting for a sequel to the Steam Deck before I upgradeAt PC Guide, Jack is mostly responsible for reporting on hardware deals. He also specializes in monitors, TVs, and headsets and can be found putting his findings together in a review or best-of guide.PCguide.com is part of the BGFG family of websites. Our mission is to provide you with great editorial and essential information to make your PC an integral part of your life. You can also follow PCguide.com on our social channels and interact with the team there.© 2024 PC Guide. All rights reserved.Part of
