Today's Steam Beta Makes The Linux Client A 64-bit App

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Today's Steam Beta Makes The Linux Client A 64-bit App​

Written by Michael Larabel in Valve on 15 October 2026 at 06:08 PM EDT.

Valve just dropped a new Steam client beta and it's a big one for Linux gamers.

Today's Steam client beta for Linux makes the client binary a 64-bit application. At long last! The Steam Linux client is finally a 64-bit application. The Steam Linux client was one of the few remaining holdouts for many Linux enthusiasts/gamers to still be relying on i686 libraries on their system.
 
Steam (and by extension, some games) has long been the primary reason many desktop users have maintained a multilib install over the past 5 years or so; many beginning or intermediate desktop users have been sticking to solely 64-bit utils by defaults sourced from official repos. I know they've been working on this for quite some time and I'll be pleased to see it merged with the release channel eventually.

The necessity to have 32-bit libraries installed properly even on a 64-bit system has long been one of those factors that made gaming on Linux more complicated. Even prior to the last decade, "beginner" desktop use on Linux had reached a point of relative ease; the less technically aware person who had a relative configure their desktop with a browser, word processor, and other basic utilities had about as easy a time with Linux as they did with Windows. Conversely, the sysadmin, programmer, media creator or other advanced user found Linux viable in most cases and had the knowledge to fix problems themselves or know where to find solutions.. The problem was the intermediate group with gamers specifically a good metric here- those who typically needed higher performance recent hardware, a significant variety of software (some/perhaps most not intended for this OS) and, often specialized tools to be compatible and supported. This, atop requiring knowledge and troubleshooting that differed from what a gamer may have learned to do on Windows, made it a more difficult progression but conversely this is why it became a good metric of Linux's advance towards the "year of the desktop".

While Valve is not the only developer helping to ease this progression, they're by far the largest and most impactful overall. Steam for Linux would only be the start of it and even after the issues of the first Steam Machines (poorly shepherded by large OEMs like Dell or Lenovo uninterestd in the minutia of Valve's intent and work put into the project), Valve has kept a steady focus on sanding down the rough edges and friction points that impede gaming on Linux both directly and indirectly. While some elements just took consistent work (especially when requiring other companies to be willing to contribute, such as getting Nvidia and AMD alike to fix issues with their drivers on Wayland , to convincing Epic to allow Easy AntiCheat to grant devs the chance to support Linux with ease, and more) they had some major force multipliers both technical such as the unified development of Proton and its contribution upstream to WINE and DXVK and otherwise like the Steam (OS, Deck, Machine, Frame) Verified system making Deck and therefore Linux support easily visible raising the desirability and profile of the OS. Where years ago during the Debian/Ubuntu era of SteamOS users had to often either merge a random PPA or research how to acquire and configure 32-bit libraries without borking anything else (I remember reading many users mess up their OS by getting Steam from the 'wrong' place) , as time continued and thenew Arch based iteration made it simpler but still something that needs to be attended.

The requests fo modernize Steam itself into a 64-bit application have been present for ages and this beta, when its finally merged into the release channel, will be the culimination checking a box off a long standing issue of complexity. Much like how Proton outmoded the need for every Linux gamer on Steam to manually install and configure Wine, DXVK / D9VK, and other supporting software to work together, having Steam itself as 64-bit means that for many users there's no need to mess around with multilib configurations for their system at all - it "just works". While I am sure some more niche uses with older games / mods / utilities may still need some manner of 32-bit support, this won't be an issue to complicate the "average" potential Linux gamer's user experience thus smoothing any attempt to switch to Linux. This long term thinking on Valve's part has borne fruit time and time again and when this hits the release channel it would be a great step forward for Linux gaming.
 
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RanceJustice said:
Where years ago during the Debian/Ubuntu era of SteamOS users had to often either merge a random PPA or research how to acquire and configure 32-bit libraries without borking anything else (I remember reading many users mess up their OS by getting Steam from the 'wrong' place) , as time continued and thenew Arch based iteration made it simpler but still something that needs to be attended.
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While I can't specifically comment on early iterations of SteamOS based on Debian/Ubuntu, I can state that during the same period you definitely did not need to acquire and configure 32 bit libs via some random PPA regarding desktop Ubuntu and most of it's derivatives. In relation to the desktop, Ubuntu LTS has always been the only officially supported platform regarding Steam under Linux, in fact every time I've installed Steam I've done so by downloading the official .deb directly from Valves site and I've never had a problem - I certainly never manually installed 32 bit libs via some random PPA.

Realistically, the only idiot I ever saw mess up their PopOS based Linux install by ignoring very, very verbose warnings telling them exactly what would happen should they proceed and replying with a full and very verbose sentence before the process would complete (resulting in total disaster), was Linus from that ageing channel Linus Tech Tips. Anyone stupid enough to ignore such verbose warnings under the GUI installer (which actually refused to complete the procedure) and then go a step further to totally mess up their install via terminal deserved everything coming for them.
 
Mazzspeed said:
While I can't specifically comment on early iterations of SteamOS based on Debian/Ubuntu, I can state that during the same period you definitely did not need to acquire and configure 32 bit libs via some random PPA regarding desktop Ubuntu and most of it's derivatives. In relation to the desktop, Ubuntu LTS has always been the only officially supported platform regarding Steam under Linux, in fact every time I've installed Steam I've done so by downloading the official .deb directly from Valves site and I've never had a problem - I certainly never manually installed 32 bit libs via some random PPA.

Realistically, the only idiot I ever saw mess up their PopOS based Linux install by ignoring very, very verbose warnings telling them exactly what would happen should they proceed and replying with a full and very verbose sentence before the process would complete (resulting in total disaster), was Linus from that ageing channel Linus Tech Tips. Anyone stupid enough to ignore such verbose warnings under the GUI installer (which actually refused to complete the procedure) and then go a step further to totally mess up their install via terminal deserved everything coming for them.
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I'm not sure if we're talking about the same era, but I can recall talking to enough people who were used to doing things like adding a new PPA to get up to date Nvidia drivers, certain codecs for legal reasons, or some Wine / Cedega version, that they were conditioned to think that was the way to go about it for Steam to avoid problems. I can't remember if it was that they got the Steam package from the default distro supplied repo, some additonal PPA, some sort of Flatpak/Snap/AppImage or "app store" listing etc.. but when they pulled the "wrong" one (or worse, uninstalled when it didn't work) it could mess up dependencies and otherwise foul up your system.

While paying attention to the packages affected and other parameters listed could prevent the worst of it, there were always some users who were new to gaming on Linux and/or got too comfortable pasting random commands from forums when troubleshooting without really understanding their function. This became less of an issue as time went on and was near nearly entirely gone by the time Valve moved to Arch, but I can vaguely remember helping a few people who ended up with issues after giving Linux gaming a try yet didn't really follow the instructions carefully or pay enough attention to what Synaptic and/or Steam was doing or asking. While some of the issues were definitely user error or lack of familiarity with the OS, the additional complexity of having to deal with both the default 64-bit and 32-bit libs for Steam and their associations could add a layer of that many new players were not familiar with coming from Windows
 
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Surprising that it took this long, considering how many distributions are moving away from their 32bit compatibility libraries.

I mean, the steam client itself isn't a heavy memory user (or at least shouldn't be) so maybe they just never had a good enough reason to refactor the code until now.

It makes me wonder how the Wine base supporting Proton works for 32bit Windows titles if the 32bit libraries are missing on the host system though.
 
Zarathustra[H] said:
Surprising that it took this long, considering how many distributions are moving away from their 32bit compatibility libraries.

I mean, the steam client itself isn't a heavy memory user (or at least shouldn't be) so maybe they just never had a good enough reason to refactor the code until now.

It makes me wonder how the Wine base supporting Proton works for 32bit Windows titles if the 32bit libraries are missing on the host system though.
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From the Wine page on Arch wiki:
New WoW64". which runs Wine as a 64-bit Linux application in a 64-bit prefix. 32-bit Windows applications are supported via thunking to 64-bit Wine code. This is most similar to WoW64 on Windows.
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RanceJustice said:
I'm not sure if we're talking about the same era, but I can recall talking to enough people who were used to doing things like adding a new PPA to get up to date Nvidia drivers, certain codecs for legal reasons, or some Wine / Cedega version, that they were conditioned to think that was the way to go about it for Steam to avoid problems. I can't remember if it was that they got the Steam package from the default distro supplied repo, some additonal PPA, some sort of Flatpak/Snap/AppImage or "app store" listing etc.. but when they pulled the "wrong" one (or worse, uninstalled when it didn't work) it could mess up dependencies and otherwise foul up your system.

While paying attention to the packages affected and other parameters listed could prevent the worst of it, there were always some users who were new to gaming on Linux and/or got too comfortable pasting random commands from forums when troubleshooting without really understanding their function. This became less of an issue as time went on and was near nearly entirely gone by the time Valve moved to Arch, but I can vaguely remember helping a few people who ended up with issues after giving Linux gaming a try yet didn't really follow the instructions carefully or pay enough attention to what Synaptic and/or Steam was doing or asking. While some of the issues were definitely user error or lack of familiarity with the OS, the additional complexity of having to deal with both the default 64-bit and 32-bit libs for Steam and their associations could add a layer of that many new players were not familiar with coming from Windows
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Ubuntu is the only desktop distro officially supported by Steam, there was no era where you had to add a PPA to install 32bit libs as they've always been supplied with the official .deb as downloaded direct from Valve. As for PPA's to add up to date Nvidia drivers: yes there was a Launchpad PPA that provided up to date drivers for Ubuntu based distro's; I used it for many, many years and never had a single problem running it, these days it's not necessary as Canonical release drivers under their own repo's in a fairly timely manner. Ubuntu have always provided all necessary codecs assuming you ticked the little box on install. Understand, there's nothing wrong with PPA's when used only where needed. A smaller curated repository is far better than the AUR, which isn't curated at all, keeps suffering from malware infections, and something best used as a last resort while staring at PKGBUILD scripts and hoping there's no 'typo's' you missed.

For the record: I also run a CachyOS system, and Arch is still not officially supported by Steam on the desktop.

https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Steam

Steam for Linux only supports the latest Ubuntu or Ubuntu LTS.[1][2] Thus, do not turn to Valve for support for issues with Steam on Arch Linux.
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...

MrGuvernment said:
The days, when I hit 4Ghz long enough to run benchmarks, my self proclaimed fastest Intel P4 in all of Costa Rica when I lived there...god those things got HOT!
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The Prescott ran so hot that I actually went back to a P4 Northwood @ 3.8Ghz...
 
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Mazzspeed said:
Ubuntu is the only desktop distro officially supported by Steam, there was no era where you had to add a PPA to install 32bit libs as they've always been supplied with the official .deb as downloaded direct from Valve. As for PPA's to add up to date Nvidia drivers: yes there was a Launchpad PPA that provided up to date drivers for Ubuntu based distro's; I used it for many, many years and never had a single problem running it, these days it's not necessary as Canonical release drivers under their own repo's in a fairly timely manner. Ubuntu have always provided all necessary codecs assuming you ticked the little box on install. Understand, there's nothing wrong with PPA's when used only where needed. A smaller curated repository is far better than the AUR, which isn't curated at all, keeps suffering from malware infections, and something best used as a last resort while staring at PKGBUILD scripts and hoping there's no 'typo's' you missed.
Click to expand...

I never said that youi had to add a PPA to get 32bit libs, I'm saying that some did (or ended up using other methods to acquire Steam that led to issues etc) because of the complexity of needing 32bit libs in the first place, combined with the varying different ways to source applications on Linux. Assuming that you were using a Debian / Ubuntu derivative distro in the first place and you picked up the .deb directly from Valve you were generally fine, however there were those that didn't. Putting aside those using distros of other packaging styles entirely (something that became increasingly popular throughout the 2010s , as the search for rolling release distros brought many would-be Linux gamers to Arch, for example), even those using .deb compatible distros could run into problems. One of the first things that newcomers to Linux are often told "Use your package manager, get your applications from your distro's official repos first" and then early on "You may need to enable expanded official repos and/or add custom repos" such as needing to enable multiverse repo for the ubuntu-restricted-extras package I think it was called to make use of MSTrueType fonts, MP3 and other codecs technically couldn't ship with the OS for legal reasons. Especially back then, gaming on Linux often needed some degree of research into alternate sourcing as fixed release distros could often have comparatively older software in mainline repos as versions were tested for stability and coincided with the release iteration; the version of Wine in the official Ubuntu repos may be months behind the up to date ones accessed by adding the WineHQ repo. Thus, especially new users seeking primarily to game on LInux, may have a confusing assortment of options and lack the knowledge or experience to know both the 'rules' and when/how its safe/advisable to deviate from them.

Here's an example of someone from that era (mid 2010s) asking for help properly finding and installing Steam - https://askubuntu.com/questions/546580/installing-steam-in-ubuntu - while one of the answers was indeed the .deb from Valve, others discussed using a Flatpak, and enabling the multiverse repo, and how installing the 32-bit version differed from the 64-bit.. I can vaguely recall helping a few people over the years that ran into trouble when their (often smaller) Ubuntu/Debian derivative packaged their own version of Steam rather than just using the deb directly from Valve and/or one of those gaming-specific distros that tried to basically create an "all in one" installer for both gaming launchers like Steam, Itch and Lutris, plus utilities pre-configured to work with them like Wine, HUDs and system spec/monitoring tools, recording/streaming utilities etc... that could lead to many potential issues. In any event, my intent was to say that offering a 64-bit Steam client will smooth and standardize the path of Linux adoption even further without having to worry about needing 32-bit libraries as for many users, Steam is the primary program necessitating multilib on their 64-bit capable systems. We've already seen the benefit from Wine moving to the new 64bit / WoW64 approach and a 64-bit Steam has been a long time request from the community. I agree that there's nothing wrong with PPAs if they're used properly; I used many during my time when Linux Mint was my primary desktop distro. As far as the AUR, that's a very different use case and it can certainly have its downsides, but its only one of many options for Arch based distros and there are plenty with more in depth curation.
Mazzspeed said:
For the record: I also run a CachyOS system, and Arch is still not officially supported by Steam on the desktop.

https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Steam
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Arch will be likely officially supported by Steam when there's a fully released SteamOS for general hardware based on it. The 2.x Ubuntu based branch has been out there in the wild for many years now, and when Steam for Linux first debuted it was always tested against Ubuntu. Given that not only a considerable amount of Steam Client for Linux users (according to recent Steam Hardware Surveys, the largest distros are Arch based) but the Steam Runtime, and the "Verification/compatibility" programs for the Deck, Machine, and Frame all are utilizing the Arch-based SteamOS, I'm guessing once it becomes mature enough for "general' hardware use Valve will officially support Arch as well as Ubuntu. I really should look into CachyOS again, I've heard good things about its optimizations and sane defaults, but wonder how it compares to say... EndeavourOS as well as baseline Arch.
 
Mazzspeed said:
Ubuntu is the only desktop distro officially supported by Steam, there was no era where you had to add a PPA to install 32bit libs as they've always been supplied with the official .deb as downloaded direct from Valve. As for PPA's to add up to date Nvidia drivers: yes there was a Launchpad PPA that provided up to date drivers for Ubuntu based distro's; I used it for many, many years and never had a single problem running it, these days it's not necessary as Canonical release drivers under their own repo's in a fairly timely manner. Ubuntu have always provided all necessary codecs assuming you ticked the little box on install. Understand, there's nothing wrong with PPA's when used only where needed. A smaller curated repository is far better than the AUR, which isn't curated at all, keeps suffering from malware infections, and something best used as a last resort while staring at PKGBUILD scripts and hoping there's no 'typo's' you missed.

For the record: I also run a CachyOS system, and Arch is still not officially supported by Steam on the desktop.

https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Steam
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They don't want to deal with the submitted issues or complaints via any channel. Makes sense since most distros receive community support. Official support doesn't mean much for anyone not using Ubuntu, especially when it's negated by knowledgeable people with appropriate info for unsupported distros. Bug reports for the client or associated Valve software/drivers are the only thing I've seen them work on w/ non-Ubuntu distros.
 
RanceJustice said:
I never said that youi had to add a PPA to get 32bit libs, I'm saying that some did (or ended up using other methods to acquire Steam that led to issues etc) because of the complexity of needing 32bit libs in the first place, combined with the varying different ways to source applications on Linux.
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Which makes absolutely no sense, as it doesn't matter where you get the installer from, it's the exact same .deb provided direct from Valve - and that .deb has always included the 32bit libs.

RanceJustice said:
Putting aside those using distros of other packaging styles entirely (something that became increasingly popular throughout the 2010s , as the search for rolling release distros brought many would-be Linux gamers to Arch, for example), even those using .deb compatible distros could run into problems.
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It was actually Arch users that ran into problems regarding multilib and 32bit library support depending on which steam runtime they were running (not to mention glibc version issues). Once again, the only time this was ever an issue under Ubuntu based distro's was in relation to a certain tech moron running PopOS (which doesn't always pull from Canonical's repos) insisting on installing Steam despite some very, very verbose warnings outlining just what would happen should he proceed.

RanceJustice said:
and then early on "You may need to enable expanded official repos and/or add custom repos" such as needing to enable multiverse repo for the ubuntu-restricted-extras package I think it was called to make use of MSTrueType fonts, MP3 and other codecs technically couldn't ship with the OS for legal reasons.
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We've been over this. As long as you checked the box labeled "Install third-party software for graphics and Wi-Fi hardware and additional media formats" on install, you didn't have to do any of this - everything just worked OOTB. Understand: I've been with Steam under Ubuntu since the very beginning, when valve first started supporting Linux.

The rest of your argument all point to the points above already discussed.

RanceJustice said:
Arch will be likely officially supported by Steam when there's a fully released SteamOS for general hardware based on it.
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Understand that while SteamOS for the desktop will be based on Arch, it is still a curated immutable distro than as opposed to a true rolling release implementation - for this reason, any desktop support is unlikely to translate directly to an open rolling release distro based on Arch and you will still need to go direct to your distro maintainers for support.

I link you to Steam's page regarding Linux troubleshooting support: https://help.steampowered.com/en/faqs/view/1114-3F74-0B8A-B784


CrimsonKnight13 said:
They don't want to deal with the submitted issues or complaints via any channel. Makes sense since most distros receive community support. Official support doesn't mean much for anyone not using Ubuntu, especially when it's negated by knowledgeable people with appropriate info for unsupported distros. Bug reports for the client or associated Valve software/drivers are the only thing I've seen them work on w/ non-Ubuntu distros.
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And this is true, and in every case it's best to go direct to your distro's maintainers as opposed to Steam support in the instance you're running Steam on an officially unsupported desktop platform.
 
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