Linux is no longer a fringe option for PC games. Steam's Proton compatibility layer, Valve's SteamOS and community systems such as Bazzite have made a living-room or handheld-style Linux box genuinely usable for a large part of a Steam library. The question is whether that is enough to replace Windows 11 on a main desktop.
Forge PC has not tested Windows 11 against Linux, SteamOS or Bazzite, and we have not measured frame rates. This comparison follows official Bazzite documentation and a TechRadar hands-on published on 2 August 2026, in which Isaiah Williams ran Bazzite for several months on a second PC. Our Windows 11 gaming settings guide covers the Microsoft side of a gaming desktop, and Steam Machine vs a gaming PC looks at Valve's own hardware.
What Linux gets right in 2026
On a Steam-focused machine, the Linux option is no longer a science project. Bazzite's official documentation describes Steam as able to run Windows games through Proton, which is built into Steam, and it ships with Lutris for non-Steam titles. Heroic Games Launcher is documented as an option for GOG, Epic and Amazon games, and you can add non-Steam shortcuts into Steam itself so they appear in game mode.
TechRadar's verdict on that living-room use case was enthusiastic. Williams called Bazzite "easily the best option for any gamer looking for a console-like couch gaming setup," and described it as a SteamOS-like system, not affiliated with Valve, with out-of-the-box support for NVIDIA and Intel GPUs as well as a smooth handheld experience. Plugins such as Decky Loader were part of what made the game-mode interface easy to customise.
If your library is mostly Steam single-player games, or titles with a native Linux build, that is the case for trying Linux, either as a dedicated second machine or as a dual-boot. Bazzite's docs also note a specific Competitive exception: for Counter-Strike 2 you should use the native Linux build and not force Proton, because running CS2 through Proton may get you VAC-banned.
The anti-cheat and Game Pass problem
The block that still matters for a main gaming PC is multiplayer anti-cheat, not whether Proton can start a single-player game. TechRadar's August 2026 piece says a large majority of popular multiplayer games "such as Battlefield 6, Call of Duty (most of the modern entries), Destiny 2, and EA Sports FC 26 will not work on Linux due to their anti-cheat systems." Williams puts that responsibility on the publishers and developers who have not made those anti-cheat systems work on SteamOS, and does not expect it to change quickly.
That list is not a complete inventory of every blocked or working title, and compatibility can change. It is a current, sourced snapshot of the kind of game that still keeps people on Windows. If those four series, or others like them, are a regular part of how you play, Linux is a second machine or a dual-boot, not a full replacement.
Microsoft Game Pass is a similar practical gap. TechRadar says Game Pass is "inaccessible natively on Bazzite, and requires either cloud gaming or third-party launchers," with no guarantee that the latter will work. If Game Pass is how you play a lot of new releases, Windows 11 is still the straightforward option.
NVIDIA, streaming and the main-rig caveats
Williams tested Bazzite on a second PC that originally used an AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT 16GB, and found it excellent for couch play. The same article is much more cautious about using it as the only OS on a main desktop, for reasons that are not about Proton failing to launch a Steam game:
Discord streaming in Steam game mode, in the author's tests, severely dropped frame rates, with constant stutters, and sometimes produced a black screen. Desktop mode was fine. Game mode is the interface most people want from a SteamOS-like setup.
Gamescope, the compositor Bazzite uses to display games, could not duplicate outputs in the way Windows 11 can, which made capture-card and dual-display streaming awkward.
After swapping in a spare GeForce RTX 3080 Ti, the author found that NVIDIA GPUs "don't play nice with game mode on Bazzite, often resulting in glitchy functionality, or just completely black screens." The conclusion, for a main PC with a GeForce RTX 4080 Super, was that DirectX 12 performance would be worse than on Windows and that the point of switching, better performance plus a console-like UI, would disappear.
Those are one tester's experiences from August 2026, not a set of official benchmarks, and we have not repeated them. They are still a fair warning: an AMD, Steam-and-couch machine is the scenario Bazzite was praised for; an NVIDIA main rig that also has to stream, run Game Pass and play anti-cheat multiplayer is the scenario that sent the same tester back to Windows 11.
A dual-boot is the obvious compromise. TechRadar notes that it is not the same as leaving Windows, and that Windows updates can make dual-boot setups messy. Official Bazzite documentation covers installation and hardware compatibility separately; read those if you go that route, and keep a Windows installer to hand.
How to choose
You mostly... | The more practical default |
|---|
Play Steam single-player games, especially on a second PC, living-room box or handheld | Linux (Bazzite or SteamOS-style) is worth a serious look |
Play Battlefield 6, modern Call of Duty, Destiny 2, EA Sports FC 26, or rely on Game Pass | Stay on Windows 11, or dual-boot |
Use an NVIDIA GPU as your only machine, and care about game mode plus streaming | Windows 11, unless you are prepared for the issues TechRadar ran into |
Want one OS for work, Creative Cloud, Office and games | Windows 11, with Linux as an experiment rather than a swap |
Our verdict
Linux gaming in 2026 is good enough for a Steam-focused second PC, a couch box or a handheld, and TechRadar's long Bazzite test backs that up. It is not yet a clean replacement for Windows 11 on a main desktop if you play anti-cheat multiplayer games, use Game Pass, stream from game mode, or rely on an NVIDIA card in that SteamOS-style interface. Dual-boot if you want both; do not expect publishers to have fixed anti-cheat just because Proton exists. We have not tested either OS ourselves; this comparison follows official Bazzite documentation and TechRadar's 2 August 2026 hands-on.
