The topic Steam is running on the Switch thanks to the latest Proton beta is currently the subject of lively discussion — readers and analysts are keeping a close eye on developments.
This is taking place in a dynamic environment: companies’ decisions and competitors’ reactions can quickly change the picture.
Valve’s latest Proton 11.0-Beta1 might seem like a relatively expected update given the update’s unassuming name, but under the hood, it includes a notable new feature: support for ARM64 devices.
Even though this Proton update is still in beta, Bluesky user @aagaming.me has already gotten Steam running on the Nintendo Switch and its Nvidia-developed ARM-based chip, specifically Ubuntu 24.04.2, by leveraging Steam’s built-in x86 Windows-to-ARM Linux wrapper. While it’s relatively easy to mod the Switch 2, the console is far more difficult to crack. With that in mind, it’s unlikely we’ll see Steam on the newer handheld anytime soon.
Proton’s beta Steam support makes it possible to run the platform on other ARM-based gaming handhelds from companies like Retroid and Ayaneo. In the thread under their initial post, @aagaming.me says that they have shared “a working copy of proton arm + steamrt arm that you can drop right into conpatibilitytools.d to play games with this client.”
The official Proton 11.0-Beta1 release is available on Valve’s Proton GitHub. The release notes include, “Added FEX-2604 for ARM64EC builds.” FEX is an open-source emulator that runs Windows games and software on ARM Linux devices.
Steam’s ARM Linux compatibility is likely coming ahead of the ARM-powered Steam Frame gaming headset, a streaming-first device powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 and 16GB LPDDR5X RAM. The Steam Frame is expected to release in the first half of 2026.
The Proton 11 Beta also includes the following certified playable titles: Resident Evil, Resident Evil 2, Dino Crisis, Dino Crisis 2, Warhammer: Vermintide 2, Shogun: Total War, Breath of Fire IV, and more. There are also several bug fixes in the release, both at the individual game level and for overall stability.