Remember our predictions related to Linux Gaming that we did for several years? It turns out one of the predictions we made back back for the year 2022 was namely A big AAA publisher officially supports Linux/Steam Deck for at least one title, with a native client. At the time, it did not happen, so we thought we were wrong. But actually, we were just way ahead of the curve!

This happened as we were travelling to attend the Tokyo Games Show 2025, so this piece of news is a few days late. But no matter! It’s an key milestone in itself. This is the first time that a AAA game studio makes a native Linux client for one of their titles, specifically because of the Steam Deck.

Larian has published a whole page on how to select the native version of Baldur’s Gate 3 for the Steam Deck. But more important, we’d like to know how this came to be.

A Single Engineer’s Passion Project

The development of the native Steam Deck version began not as a top-down corporate mandate, but as an after-hours initiative by one Larian developer. Larian CEO Swen Vincke confirmed the unique origin story, explaining the importance of one employee’s passion:

“The story of how this came to be really is one of true passion. The Steam Deck native build was initiated by a single engineer who really wanted a smoother version of the game on Steam Deck and so he started working on it after hours.”

Lucky he did it after hours - this kind of uncalled for side project could get you fired if you were to do it during your worktime. The company quickly recognized the value of the engineer’s work and committed resources to ensure its release, demonstrating a supportive culture. According to Swen Vincke again:

“When we tried it out, we were all surprised by how good it felt and so it didn’t take much to convince us to put our shoulders behind it and get it released… It’s this type of pure passion for their craft that makes me fall in love with my developers over and over again.”

The engineer behind the effort was not publicly named. Probably to save them from harm from online communities. I’m pretty sure nobody wants to see a personal death threat after making a port to SteamOS. The risk is low, but when you have millions of people out there, it’s just a game of statistics.

How good is the port?

Several Youtubers have already given the port a spin, and the results are clear: you get a better framerate out of the game, especiailly in more busy environments.

It would be cool to see more details about what went into making this port a reality.

A sign of things to come?

Probably not. But moving from zero to one is a huge step. It sends a wink to other AAA studios: did you see what our engineers can do?, but this is not likely to move the needle. At best, it’s good PR because it puts the game front and center for free on a number of tech channels. But even if did not makes any monetary impact that justifies the investment, I agree that the PR effect alone is great: it shows that Larian is a fairly open organization, where you can bring good ideas on the table and maybe, maybe, they will endorse it. And even celebrate it. This has to make a difference for developers out there who are stuck in less dev-friendly companies, and who may be looking for their next step.

So if you ask me, do you see another AAA game doing something similar anytime soon?, I’d pause for a second, look far away to the horizon, and gasp as if struck by a great idea, and finally answer: “No”. Any company could have done it until now, yet none of them did. It’s not clear that this win from Larian is enough to motivate other devs in large companies to try supporting the Deck after hours, let alone officially.

But again… this is the kind of question where I would be happy to be proven wrong.

In any case, well done Larian, and great achievement, anonymous porter!