Apex Legends Bans Linux Support for the Same Reason Black Ops 6 Won’t Run on it

Respawn Entertainment’s Apex Legends is the latest game to ban Linux support because of incompatibility issues with its anti-cheat. This is the same reason why Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 doesn’t support Linux and Linux-based Steam Decks. Running competitive games on Linux makes it extremely difficult for developers as these cheats are harder to detect.

In an official post, Electronic Arts has announced that it has blocked Linux OS access to Apex Legends, stating that “a small number of Apex players” will be impacted by this move. EA strongly believes that the openness of the Linux operating system makes things easier for hackers and cheaters. Since the studio is struggling to fight this problem, it has entirely cut access.

Apex Legends Will No Longer Support Linux and Linux-based Steam Decks

In an official post on EA’s website, it has been revealed that players using Linux and Linux-based Steam Decks will no longer have access to Apex Legends. The anti-cheat team stated,

In our efforts to combat cheating in Apex, we’ve identified Linux OS as being a path for a variety of impactful exploits and cheats. As a result, we’ve decided to block Linux OS access to the game. While this will impact a small number of Apex players, we believe the decision will meaningfully reduce instances of cheating in our game.

Not just Apex Legends, but Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 also does not support Linux and Linux-based Steam Decks since its Ricochet anti-cheat system isn’t compatible with Linux. Steam Deck’s Linux-based operating system doesn’t allow the handheld gaming device to reach its true potential as developers find it difficult to take down hackers.

Linux Cheats Are Hard To Detect

Further in the post, it has been stated that the cheating problem due to Linux requires “an outsized level of focus and attention” as these cheats are hard to detect,

The openness of the Linux operating systems makes it an attractive one for cheaters and cheat developers. Linux cheats are indeed harder to detect and the data shows that they are growing at a rate that requires an outsized level of focus and attention from the team for a relatively small platform. There are also cases in which cheats for the Windows OS get emulated as if it’s on Linux in order to increase the difficulty of detection and prevention.

The move will indeed affect Apex Legends‘ player count but EA has thought this through. The population of players that were legitimately playing on Linux/the Steam Deck was very small, so to avoid ruining the game for everyone else, EA decided to take this decision.

It’s not like Steam Deck users can’t play unsupported games as players can wipe SteamOS and install Windows OS on a Steam Deck. This will allow players to play games like Black Ops 6 and Apex Legends but keep in mind that this will significantly affect Steam Deck’s battery life.