Valve just dropped a bombshell that could reshape gaming forever. The company has been secretly funding the open-source technologies needed to run Windows PC games on ARM chips - the processors powering billions of phones. This isn't just about the Steam Frame headset; it's about making your entire Steam library playable on any device, from Samsung Galaxies to future ARM laptops.
Valve just revealed it's been playing the longest game in tech. While everyone was focused on the Steam Deck and wondering about that Steam Machine console, the company was quietly building the foundation for something much bigger - PC gaming on every ARM device you own.
In an exclusive interview with The Verge, Valve's Pierre-Loup Griffais dropped the news that'll make mobile gaming companies sweat. Since 2016, Valve has been funding almost all the open-source technologies needed to run Windows games on ARM processors. That includes Fex, the emulator that makes the Steam Frame headset work its magic.
But here's the kicker - this tech isn't locked to Valve's hardware. Developers have already used it to get games like Hollow Knight: Silksong running smoothly on Samsung Galaxy phones through the GameHub app. "We don't want game developers to have to spend a bunch of time porting things to different architecture if they can avoid it," Griffais told The Verge. "We would way rather have those game developers invest their time and energy into making their games better."
The technical wizardry here is genuinely impressive. Valve's ARM gaming stack combines Proton (their Windows-to-Linux compatibility layer) with the Fex emulator to bridge the x86-to-ARM gap. When you're playing a Windows game on an ARM device, Fex translates the x86 game code in real-time while Proton handles all the Windows API calls. The performance hit only applies to the game's own code - once it hits system APIs, everything runs natively on ARM.
This isn't Valve's first rodeo with long-term open-source investments. The company spent a decade funding Linux gaming development that eventually made the Steam Deck possible. Now they're applying the same playbook to ARM. Fex lead developer Ryan Houdek confirmed to The Verge that Valve pays enough to make Fex development his full-time job. "I want to thank the people from Valve for being here from the start and allowing me to kickstart this project," he .
