As gaming support on Linux has continued to grow over the past few years several distributions specifically designed around gaming support have become increasingly popular. In order to better serve users going forward, many of them have joined a collective to help focus efforts on better future support and reduce duplicated, time-wasting work.
The Open Gaming Collective is being contributed to by some of the most prolific gaming Linux distributions around, including Bazzite, Nobara, PikaOS, Playtron, and more. The aim of the collective is to centralize efforts on core component development, such as updates for input managers (for better controller support), gaming-specific packages (such as Gamescope, which is widely used on SteamOS), and kernel improvements. “This means better hardware compatibility, fewer duplicated efforts, and a more unified Linux gaming experience for everyone,” the announcement post concludes.
One such improvement includes widespread support for Secure Boot, which currently isn’t supported on Bazzite, one of the best SteamOS alternatives. Secure Boot support has steadily become required for kernel-level anti-cheat software used in Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, Battlefield 6, and Highguard, and is a big reason why multiplayer games are still challenging on Linux. While this won’t immediately solve the issue, resolving it across multiple Linux distributions at once should make it easier for you to choose one that suits you needs the most rather than being forced into one because of specific feature support.
As the post points out, this is just the start for the collective and it hopes to start inviting more partners and developers soon. Valve isn’t mentioned in the release, and the efforts of the collective don’t hinge on its inclusion. But if the Steam Machine manufacturer does plan to eventually bring SteamOS to desktops, it would be a big benefit to have a lot of this groundwork to lean on.
