Valve reveals it’s the architect behind a push to bring Windows games to Arm • Hacker News Board

Re: Valve reveals it’s the architect behind a push to bring Windows games to Arm

#31

Post by jsheard » Wed, Dec 03, 2025, 5:55 PM UTC

tapoxi wrote: post #26

jsheard wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I Don't understand why everyone else does not. It's because the Linux versions of those anti-cheats are significantly weaker than their Windows counterparts.

It's telling that Valve uses a user space anti-cheat (VAC) for Counter-Strike 2, but the competitive community overwhelmingly rejects that and ops to use a third-party Windows-only kernel mode anti-cheat (FACEIT).

I think even the "Major" tournaments that are officially sanctioned and sponsored by Valve, though organized by third parties, usually run on FACEIT or similar.

Re: Valve reveals it’s the architect behind a push to bring Windows games to Arm

#32

Post by spullara » Wed, Dec 03, 2025, 5:55 PM UTC

giancarlostoro wrote: post #23

QuantumNomad_ wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

First i thought you meant the video game Rust. Then I saw the arewe…yet url and thought you meant Rust the programming language Then I visited the arewe…yet link and realized it was the Rust game you meant after all

I know what you mean, sometimes I google Rust specific things (the coding language) and get Rust the game.

as a person that plays rust and writes rust I feel this all the time

Re: Valve reveals it’s the architect behind a push to bring Windows games to Arm

#33

Post by alias_neo » Wed, Dec 03, 2025, 5:56 PM UTC

embedding-shape wrote: post #8

baq wrote: post #7

This is news how exactly since the announcement of arm Steam Frame?

Did they at the same time announced that they had been funding open source ARM compatibility for over a decade? Maybe it was mentioned somewhere, but the article had new details for me at least, even if I consider myself somewhat up-to-date generally.

Agreed. I saw the Steam Frame announcement, and plan to get one as soon as it's available.

I saw the mention of Fex then too, but absolutely nowhere, before now have I seen any information that they'd been working on this for the best part of a decade.

Re: Valve reveals it’s the architect behind a push to bring Windows games to Arm

#34

Post by echelon » Wed, Dec 03, 2025, 5:56 PM UTC

tonetegeatinst wrote: post #30

Given how arm license is know to be less than friendly.... Wouldn't it be preferable to explore a RISCV architecture. As far as I know RISC provides similar power efficiency and sleep that is like ARM.

That's a geopolitical question.

ARM is Western

RISC is China / Eastern

Valve is just trying to outflank Microsoft here. And they're doing a magnificent job of it.

Microsoft has on at least half a dozen occasions tried to draw a box around Valve to control their attempts to grow beyond the platform. And moreover to keep gaming gravitas on Windows. Windows Store, ActiveX, Xbox, major acquisitions ... they've failed to stop Valve's moves almost every time.

Linux, Steam Box, Steam Machine - there's now incredible momentum with a huge community with more stickiness than almost any other platform. Microsoft is losing the war.

The ARM vs RISC battle will happen, but we're not there yet. There also isn't enough proliferation for it to be strategic to Valve.

Re: Valve reveals it’s the architect behind a push to bring Windows games to Arm

#35

Post by charcircuit » Wed, Dec 03, 2025, 5:57 PM UTC

I thought for a moment from the title that Valve has finally started funding game developers to make content from SteamOS, but no, this is just another case where Valve pays some contractors for open source projects and force developers to foot the bill for verifying compatibility.

Re: Valve reveals it’s the architect behind a push to bring Windows games to Arm

#36

Post by xpuente » Wed, Dec 03, 2025, 6:00 PM UTC

echelon wrote: post #34

tonetegeatinst wrote: post #30

Given how arm license is know to be less than friendly.... Wouldn't it be preferable to explore a RISCV architecture. As far as I know RISC provides similar power efficiency and sleep that is like ARM.

That's a geopolitical question. ARM is Western RISC is China / Eastern Valve is just trying to outflank Microsoft here. And they're doing a magnificent job of it. Microsoft has on at least half a dozen occasions tried to draw a box around Valve to control their attempts to grow beyond the platform. And moreover to keep gaming gravitas on Windows. Windows Store, ActiveX, Xbox, major acquisitions ... they've failed to…

No: RISC is open ARM is closed.

I suspect that many projects—such as BOOM—have stalled as a consequence of this situation. If it continues, the long-term impact will be highly detrimental for everyone involved, including stakeholders in Western countries.

Re: Valve reveals it’s the architect behind a push to bring Windows games to Arm

#37

Post by ThrowawayTestr » Wed, Dec 03, 2025, 6:00 PM UTC

charcircuit wrote: post #35

I thought for a moment from the title that Valve has finally started funding game developers to make content from SteamOS, but no, this is just another case where Valve pays some contractors for open source projects and force developers to foot the bill for verifying compatibility.

I'm sure those developers hate getting a larger install base for free.

Re: Valve reveals it’s the architect behind a push to bring Windows games to Arm

#38

Post by marcellus23 » Wed, Dec 03, 2025, 6:01 PM UTC

charcircuit wrote: post #35

I thought for a moment from the title that Valve has finally started funding game developers to make content from SteamOS, but no, this is just another case where Valve pays some contractors for open source projects and force developers to foot the bill for verifying compatibility.

> force developers to foot the bill for verifying compatibility

How are they forcing developers? If developers don't think it's worth it to make their game compatible with Steam Deck, can't they just avoid doing that?

Re: Valve reveals it’s the architect behind a push to bring Windows games to Arm

#39

Post by t-writescode » Wed, Dec 03, 2025, 6:01 PM UTC

jsheard wrote: post #5

PaulHoule wrote: post #2

Would love to see it on MacOS X -- Steam works great on my Mac Mini for the games it supports, would be great to see everything run on it.

I'm not sure what FEX could offer on macOS that Rosetta 2 doesn't already, with better performance thanks to Apple Silicon magic. Running x86 code on ARM macOS is the most solved part of the stack, if anything needs work it's the API translation layers.

Aren’t most Mac issues now around Metal vs OpenGL and DirectX?

Re: Valve reveals it’s the architect behind a push to bring Windows games to Arm

#40

Post by the__alchemist » Wed, Dec 03, 2025, 6:02 PM UTC

Does anyone know what the limfac is? The machine code produced is of course different on different CPU arches, but isn't this handled at the compiler level? I.e. lower level than game devs worry about.

The exception I see is if SIMD intrinsics.