Why it matters: Valve has released a significant update for the Steam Deck's compatibility layer for Windows games. Proton 7.0 adds compatibility for more titles, support for Easy Anti-Cheat (used by Fortnite, Apex Legends, Rocket Arena, and many others), and fixes issues found in some games.
The latest update to the Windows-Linux compatibility layer Proton brings it to version 7.0. The new features and compatibility improvements it brings to Valve's SteamOS arrive less than two weeks before the Steam Deck's official launch. Wine 7.0 and DXVK 1.9.4 are part of the patch as well.
Games newly playable through Proton include Anno 1404, Forza Horizon 5, Monster Hunter Rise, Disgaea 4 Complete+, Persona 4 Golden, Oceanhorn, Resident Evil 0, Wargroove, Yakuza 4 Remastered, and more. The update also fixes voice chat in Sea of Thieves; improves audio in Skyrim, Fallout 4, and Mass Effect; and adds controller support for games running through EA's Origin client.
Proton 7.0 is now available! Highlights include playable Persona 4 Golden, audio fixes for Skyrim and Fallout games, local H264 decoding support, and the foundation for legacy EAC support. SW: Squadrons and Knockout City are currently playable with EAC, with more on the way soon!
--- Pierre-Loup Griffais (@Plagman2) February 16, 2022
Other improvements include support for locally decoding H.264 videos and Easy Anti-Cheat (EAC) for games with Linux modules. Concerns about EAC support on the vast array of Linux kernels are the main reason Epic Games boss Tim Sweeney says Fortnite won't support the Steam Deck.
Wine 7.0, which was rolled out last month, includes improvements to how it handles DirectX, Vulkan, 64-bit Windows-on-Windows, and a lot more.