The Steam Machine may be one of the most exciting hardware launches this year, but depending on the types of games you play, it may not end up replacing your existing console or PC just yet. That’s simply because it won’t be able to play some of the biggest games around.
This has nothing to do with its hardware capabilities. In fact, the Steam Machine could easily run most of those games. The reason instead comes down to a very boring software limitation.
The Steam Machine, just like Valve’s own Steam Deck, runs a modified version of Linux. Valve calls it SteamOS, and though it has moved mountains in terms of making gaming on Linux viable, there’s one obstacle that continues to plague it: anti-cheat.
More specifically, it’s the anti-cheat software that runs alongside the game, because in the majority of cases – regardless of who made the anti-cheat software – these programs simply do not support Linux.
It would take an entire other piece to discuss the reasons why that’s the case, but the objective reality is that if a game has a form of anti-cheat, it’s unlikely to run on Linux, and therefore, by extension, Steam Machine. The number of games today with anti-cheat is large, and though some developers have found a way to make it work, the majority haven’t. Unfortunately for us, that list includes several big, beloved games.
It’s worth keeping in mind that, even if the game has an offline mode or single-player content, if it requires an anti-cheat check, you won’t be able to play. Finally, it’s possible to side-step these limitations by installing Windows, but that would defeat the entire purpose of the console-like device.
Here are the games that, as of the time of writing, you cannot play on Steam Machine.
Destiny 2
Though it just received its final update, Destiny 2 remains one of the most popular games on Steam. There may not be more support planned, but Bungie’s looter-shooter RPG managed to bring back back hundreds of thousands of players to celebrate its legacy and say goodbye.
Destiny 2 servers will continue to run, and perhaps now is an appealing time to jump in since there’s plenty to do and no rush to level up a character in anticipation of a new raid. Destiny 2 is also a very well optimised game and would shine on the Steam Machine.
But Bungie has repeatedly shot down the idea of supporting Steam Deck – a less powerful version of a Steam Machine – because of reasons to do with the game’s anti-cheat software. Now that the studio is essentially done with the game, it’s doubly doubtful any development resources will be dedicated to readdressing it.
Fortnite
The magnitude and success of Epic Games’ Fortnite needs no explanation, and while it’s not available on Steam, it is one of the biggest games on PC.
Fortnite doesn’t support SteamOS, because, yes you guessed it, its anti-cheat prevents it from running on Linux-based platforms. While there are ways to get the Epic Games Store to run on your Steam Machine, you’ll find that Fortnite isn’t one of the games that’s available to play.
Epic has been staunch in its stance against supporting the game on Linux. The company essentially doesn’t believe supporting the platform is worth the risk of making it easier for cheaters to undermine the game. Compared to Windows, Linux is an open platform, and it lacks many of the security features many anti-cheat services rely on to properly do their job.
But Fortnite is available on many non-Windows devices, so there’s a chance Epic will figure a solution out for Linux, even if the game never makes its way to the Steam store.
Battlefield 6
One of the best Battlefield games in recent memory, Battlefield 6 broke records for the series. It was such a hit it became the best-selling game of 2025 in the US, beating Call of Duty in a rare occurrence.
Battlefield 6 debuted with a new, in-house-developed anti-cheat technology that Battlefield Studios designed for Windows PCs. In fact, before you can even run the game, you need to make sure certain system-level settings are on, and that your motherboard’s BIOS can support certain security features.
This is the series’ first use of kernel-level anti-cheat, a deeply-embedded form of anti-cheat that requires root access to your PC. It functions by building on top of a series of security stacks that all have to be enabled for the game to launch on your system. We’re increasingly seeing more and more games rely on this form of anti-cheat. Needless to say, this is not something you can do on Linux – it’s simply too open for that – and therefore on SteamOS, at least not without significant engineering work.
Enabling Battlefield 6 on Linux will take time, then, and unfortunately the situation extends to all modern Battlefield titles, too. This includes Battlefield 2042, Battlefield 5, and Battlefield 1. All games are protected by the same anti-cheat, so they’re off-limits.
Apex Legends
This may be one of the saddest examples here. Apex Legends, the beloved battle royale shooter from Respawn, used to actually support SteamOS at one point, but the developer got so tired of cheaters exploiting the game on Linux that it dropped Steam Deck support. Now, the game requires Windows.
Apex Legends may be a little old and perhaps not as relevant as it used to be, but it’s consistently among the most popular free-to-play titles on Steam. Each new seasonal release pushes it back up the charts and it still attracts millions of players.
Apex Legends is also unique in that it’s the most successful battle royale shooter that has hero-based characters, and its own sci-fi universe that’s not a nondescript military-themed affair. All that is to say it’s a shame you can’t play it on your Steam Machine, especially as you’d be hard pressed to find any battle royale game that you can.
GTA Online
GTA Online is the multiplayer mode of GTA 5. It is one of the most popular online shooters today, and it’s the reason GTA 5 sales continue to multiply year after year. GTA Online is a big deal on PC, especially if you frequent role-playing servers there. But all of that is sadly exclusive to Windows, and again because of the game’s anti-cheat.
GTA 5 was originally playable on Steam Deck and would’ve been on Steam Machine, but Rockstar updated the game to require an account login, and it’s that online check that’s taken it off the list of supported titles. Even if you just want to play the campaign, you’re out of luck – unless you’re willing to do a lot of tinkering.
While some industrious players have been able to bypass some of those login restrictions and get it running on Steam Deck (and by extension Steam Machine), it’s not something most people will be willing to try, especially if buying the device specifically for its hassle-free, console-like experience.
Considering that both GTA 5 and GTA Online have been given a facelift in the Enhanced Edition, and Rockstar is currently letting people upgrade for free, the lack of Steam Machine support stings.
EA Sports FC
It is such a shame that with a World Cup currently underway, and with the enduring couch and TV appeal of EA’s football series, that you can’t play it in your living room using Steam Machine.
The lack of SteamOS support goes back to EA Sports FC 24 – when the series had its name change – and up to the current instalments. Again, it’s because of anti-cheat, because all modern EA Sports games have programs that do not support Linux or SteamOS. And yes, that affects every player regardless of which mode they want to play, so offline play isn’t possible, either.
The only modern EA football game that reliably works is FIFA 22, if you don’t mind dialling back the years a bit.
Call of Duty (2019 onwards)
The biggest shooter in the world, Call of Duty, is almost entirely off-limits for Steam Machine owners. Many older Call of Duty games will work, but anything from the modern era – 2019 onwards – won’t even launch on your machine.
Call of Duty has long had its struggles with cheaters on PC, especially after the launch of the free-to-play battle royale mode Warzone. Since then, Activision developers have been trying almost everything they can to thwart cheaters, and their most successful effort was the result of a kernel-level anti-cheat solution the team developed in-house.
But even before it required Secure Boot, Call of Duty anti-cheat was off-limits to Linux and SteamOS players. In short, if you want to play a modern Call of Duty, Windows is your only option.
The Call of Duty games that are unplayable are: Modern Warfare (2019), Black Ops Cold War, Vanguard, Modern Warfare 2 (2022), Modern Warfare 3 (2023), Black Ops 6, Black Ops 7, and almost certainly the upcoming Modern Warfare 4.
Riot Games (League of Legends, Valorant, 2XKO)
None of Riot Games’ titles work on the Steam Machine. In fact, the company doesn’t offer its games on Steam to begin with. Even if you could side-load the Riot Launcher, none of the games will run.
And before you say that playing a MOBA such as League of Legends on anything but keyboard & mouse is foolish, the Steam Controller is one such device that could actually make it work. Sadly, even if you did manage to play a MOBA with a controller, League of Legends on Steam Machine would not be one of them.
The same goes for Riot’s free-to-play hero shooter Valorant, and free-to-play fighting game 2XKO. Each game is from a different genre but all of them are protected by the same Vanguard anti-cheat tech.
As disappointing as it may be to see such a big list of relevant games go unsupported on Steam Machine, there is some hope. Many modern games use anti-cheat software developed by third-party vendors, and in some cases, those vendors have made their software available on Linux. Assuming the game’s developers are onboard with the idea, they could decide to toggle compatibility on, which would open the way for a game to work on Steam Machine.
Frustratingly, Valve’s hands are somewhat tied here. When the Steam Machine was initially revealed, Valve said it hoped more developers would be incentivised to enable anti-cheat on Steam Machine compared to Steam Deck because of its potentially larger installed base, and because many players would be using it to play multiplayer games online, as with a games console.
With the price of Steam Machine being what it is, however, and with how supply-constrained it’s expected to be, one has to wonder whether that potential installed base will ever be large enough to justify giving the issue a second look.
