Valve’s Steam Machines and the Steam Controller seemed like a really interesting way that the company was going to shake up the gaming landscape. Unfortunately while the Steam Controller might be a hit with gamers, the Steam Machines haven’t really been met with the same levels of success.
This isn’t so much to do with the hardware, but the software in which it runs on SteamOS, a custom operating system based on Linuxl, which unfortunately doesn’t have that many compatible games compared to Windows. However that could change, at least that’s according to a thread on Reddit in which users have discovered that Steam’s GUI files has a hidden section and a message that suggests that a new compatibility tool could be in the works.
The message reads, “Steam Play will automatically install compatibility tools that allow you to play games from your library that were built for other operating systems.” What this means is that instead of developers having to create two (or three if you count macOS) versions of the same game, this tool could make it a lot easier to bring Windows-based games to Linux, thus making Steam Machines more appealing.
As ArsTechnica points out, getting Windows programs to run on Linux isn’t new, but an official tool designed by Valve specifically for Steam will probably go a long way in ensuring compatibility and optimization. That being said, there’s no telling when this tool will launch or if it will really do what we think it will, so take it with a grain of salt for now.
Filed in . Read more about Linux, Steam (Valve), Valve and Windows.