Valve appear to be testing ARM64 and Android support for Steam on Linux
Valve appear to be testing ARM64 and Android support for Steam on Linux
cross-posted from: https://sh.itjust.works/post/25583513
I've said this for a while, but I'll say it again.
I'm 98% certain a Steam Deck 2 would be ARM based and steam will be working towards getting proton or something similar to work for x86-64 -> ARM. Mainly for battery life gains. I think they've realised that the biggest complaint that people have of the steam deck is that it just does not last long enough when playing higher end games. Getting both a good ARM chipset and an efficient translator will make massive gains.
This news to me almost confirms this theory of mine and they're just also trying to see if the same strategy can work with getting them on people's phones and tablets too.
I think you'd be incorrect but I'm glad to see focus on other ISAs nonetheless.
I'm not sure the power efficiency argument in favour of RISC really holds up today; Lunar lake has demonstrated that x86 can achieve stellar perf / watt at lower power envelopes. It doesn't quite meet apple (testimony to their own proficiency though they benefit from vertical integration) but comfortably pulls ahead of Qualcomm in this regard.
But being able to use your desktop software on any target, regardless of ISA or OS? Sign me the fuck up.
On EVERYONES soul I was saying this shit like a month or two ago. Steam deck paves the way for mobile-pc interconnectedness, imagine a steam mobile device that can run Linux and play any steam or android game 😳
I have to assume they're trying it out, but we may never see x86 to ARM emulation run at playable framerates while maintaining the power efficiency for many of the 3D workloads the steamdeck can currently run (not to mention dx12->vk translation). For simpler games, sure, but probably not cp2077.
Maybe it's technically physically possible, but I don't think we're close to doing it. I think it would be easier for them to fund ARM+VK ports of new/popular titles, or see a battery density breakthrough.
Imagine if Steam led the charge for Linux phones? Imagine the bank apps wincing as users demand the freedoms to do what they wish with their devices.
Or a steam deck with passive cooling and a 12 hour battery life.
If this goes through, it'll be a game changer. I really was hoping a similar push from Epic considering they've pushed for alternative stores on mobile platforms and also can offer competitive pay shares to devs that use Unreal; but titles that joined its mobile store are very limited. They're cool titles for sure; but Steam really has a chance to compete really hard with this news. And Epic has no excuse of "no we can't use that backend Steam uses to translats games"; it's literally open source.
