Apex Legends removes Linux and Steam Deck support to combat cheating

Apex Legends has established itself as a strong contender in the battle royale genre. For years, players have enjoyed access to the game on Linux and Steam Deck through Proton, thanks to the integration of Easy Anti-Cheat. This level of accessibility, however, is no longer in place, as EA and Respawn Entertainment have decided to completely discontinue support for these platforms due to concerns over cheating and exploits.

In a statement shared via a community update, EA mentioned, “In our efforts to combat cheating in Apex, we’ve identified Linux OS as being a pathway for various significant cheats and exploits. Hence, we have chosen to block access for the Linux OS. Although this will affect a relatively small portion of players, we believe this step will substantially decrease cheating incidents within the game.”

Though the number of players on Linux is minimal, the platform required considerable attention to address the ongoing cheating issues:

We had to consider the trade-off between the number of legitimate players utilizing Linux/the Steam Deck and the overall health of the Apex player community. Even though the Linux player base is limited, their activities have negatively impacted many players’ experiences. This ultimately led us to our decision today.

According to EA, the open nature of the Linux operating system makes it particularly appealing to cheaters and cheat developers. Some hackers had even managed to adapt their Windows cheats to work on Linux, complicating detection efforts for anti-cheat teams.

With this new policy taking effect, Linux users are now barred from accessing Apex Legends, meaning that Steam Decks operating on the default OS are similarly locked out from participating in this free-to-play game. However, if users install Windows on their devices, they will regain access to the game.

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