Is Linux Ready For Mainstream Gaming In 2025?

I've been gaming soley on linux since 2020 or 2021.

Yeah, its definitely ready now, most straggler games are basically massively overproduced and massively MTX exploitative team based shooters using kernel level anti cheat that are designed for children with mom's credit card.

I've been gaming on Linux exclusively for 5 years now. I have waited for some games to run better but it's been generally great for me.

Which ones in particular? I have this issue on windows 10 as well. I've still not touched city skylines 2 and stalker 2. I just tried Jedi survivor, and honestly it was a mistake.
- Might sound funny it's usually the older titles. The longest I have waited for was Spellforce Platinum Edition. It always ran sluggish, now it probably runs better than on Windows. Another one was Agarest, it was kinda playable but with too much hassle. Well, I usually play older stuff anyway. Surprisingly I almost never had problems with new games. Maybe only Hell Let Loose but it was an anti-cheat issue.

The majority of problems Linux has with gaming are intentional decisions on the part of the studios at this point.

I keep what I think is a pretty healthy gaming diet, which tends to steer me away from the megacorporate shit and into smaller studios and indies, and games just tend to run.

Even AAA games are fine, as long as they don't have intrusive anticheat. If you're after SP, non-VR gaming, Linux is ready today. If you want VR, you need to be more flexible with headsets. If you want MP, you need to be really flexible since devs intentionally block Linux for whatever reason.
- I'd say the peripheral situation could be better too, such as sim racing gear. Logitech support is solid and looks decent with Fanatec at least, but there's a lot of options out there that are unlikely to have good Linux support.
  
  I tested out Monado recently with the Reverb G2 and it's coming along nicely. It's definitely not ready yet, but hopefully it will be within a few years.
- I don't think you need to be super flexible with Multiplayer as long as they aren't competitive games. Here's some multiplayer games I've played flawlessly in the last 12 months: Baldur's Gate III, Webfishing, Deep Rock Galactic, Atlyss and Stardew Valley. It really depends on the genre I think.
- I can install and play pretty much any single player game I want, even new releases, and I am confident I will be able to play it with no significant/noticable issue... and on the offchance there is one, it will most assuredly be fixed within a couple days with a proton update.. and honestly its been like 2 years since that last happened to me.
  
  The only time I even have to think about installing a game, and thus have to check protondb, is when I want to install an MMO or Multiplayer game...and a shocking amount of those work, too. Just not all of them, because of invasive anticheat.

What will itsfoss.com say? I'm on the edge of my seat

Pretty much, yeah. Only thing not 100% yet are some of the more obscure peripherals. Example: Eye and head tracking. While sticks can and do work in Linux, it would be nice if VKB, Virpil, etc had native Linux calibration tools.

Yes.

I have no problem playing games on Linux. Currently playing Baldur's Gate 3. Only thing I had to was turn on compatibility in the steam settings.

Ugh, that's too much work. I'm going back to Winblows
I'm playing Hogwarts Legacy and needed to tune one system setting to fix occasional crashes. That's it, and that's the most trouble I've had in a few years.
- Which one? Maybe it can help my audio issue who brings random audio glitches

Pewdiepie apparently confirms that it is, atleast according to his latest video and his comment in the comment section.

Could you link them? That would give a massive boost in getting more people to sign up for Linux.
- For example: https://phtn.app/post/lemmy.ml/26299109
  
  There are a couple of other posts, you'll find them quickly if you search for Pewdiepie.

I was having some issues when I updated to Nobara 41 as Hell Divers 2 failed to load in the textures. So it still has hiccups.

Hell Divers 2 has had a rocky relationship with Linux from the get go. Hopefully, as Linux gains market share, game studios start to include Linux testing.
- helldivers 2 works great for me with nixos. Both native package and flatpak.
- At least I have a steam deck to play it on as that tends to be more optimized for games.

Get VR working without having to compile from source and it will be

It would be nice but according to Steam only 1.9% of users have VR headsets. So it's naturally a slow development.
I played through HL Alyx on a baremetal PopOS! system and Valve Index, with no need to compile a kernel from source ... in 2022.
VR is not mainstream gaming.

VR is a minority of a minority of a minority of gaming.
Steam VR mostly works. It's one of the areas that takes a massive stinky performance hit, and there is no motion smoothing yet (somehow), but it does work. I've put thousands of hours into vrchat in it, played through all of Alyx, etc. all on Linux.
In addition to what others have said... It is?

I can plug in my index, open steam, and run VR games, just fine.
- My HP Reverb G2 V2 isn't.
I recently switched my VR PC from Windows to Bazzite. No compiling necessary.
With how long VR has been around, I can still count on one hand the number of people I know that have an entry level Quest, let alone good VR gear. For that reason, I dunno if I'd include VR in the definition of mainstream.
- Its not mainstream. probably never be mainstream... Just like 3d TVs.
  
  Its a rich mans hobby.
  
  the only reason the quest is "cheap" in comparison is because its facebook and when it comes to facebook.. you will always be the product. Its sold to you "cheap" compared to others, because they make that back and more on harvesting and selling the data they collect from you using it.
  
  overwhelming majority of gamers use gaming to escape and relax. Jumping around a room exhausting yourself is kind of the antithesis to that.
- If you package it, they will come
  
  A lot of people use Quest standalone, but the PC VR experience is much, much better if it can be setup right. Eliminating the major issues that hold it back from working would make a big difference.
  
  That and a whole smorgasboard of Windows MR headsets will be useless bargain bin items soon, as Microsoft is pulling support for those headsets entirely, and I know the linux community has added support for Windows MR in Linux. They're not bad headsets, and being super cheap would let a lot of people try out VR, even if the experience is a bit behind compared to the modern headsets (Index, Quest 3, etc.)
Unless your using something like a Pimax its there. Have a look at Envision. You can install it from the AUR or a appimage from git both allow you to avoid having to compile from source. Envision allows you to use Monado if you have a wired headset or WiVRn if you have a quest or other wireless headset and can also install WlxOverlay or Stardust as overlays.

This page has whats compatible with what headsets https://lvra.gitlab.io/docs/hardware/