Valve is actively working to implement full support for Nvidia graphics drivers within SteamOS, a crucial step toward establishing its operating system as a viable alternative to Windows for PC gaming. Valve software developers Pierre-Loup Griffais and Jeff Leinbaugh confirmed the ongoing efforts in a recent interview.
"Yeah, we're working on it hard," Griffais stated. "It's definitely at the top of our list. It's one of those things just like FEX and working on the Qualcomm driver, it just takes years." While full driver functionality may not be imminent, the team has made progress, with Nvidia GPUs now able to function on the Linux-based OS, albeit with performance limitations.
Griffais elaborated that the driver has been enabled in the main SteamOS tree, allowing certain generations of Nvidia GPUs to display output. However, a performance gap persists compared to the latest driver capabilities, which the team is working to close.
Currently, gaming on Linux generally performs best with AMD graphics cards due to years of dedicated driver support from the company. Nvidia hardware has historically presented challenges on Linux. For Valve's ambition to broaden SteamOS adoption, ensuring Nvidia cards perform optimally is essential. The latest Steam Hardware Survey indicates that Nvidia GPUs power 72.88% of the Steam player base, making their compatibility on SteamOS a significant factor for potential user migration from Windows.
Successful implementation of reliable Nvidia graphics card support on SteamOS could pave the way for other critical features, such as anti-cheat solutions, further enhancing the operating system's appeal to a larger segment of gamers.